The Mosaic Framework
Posted on 05. Oct, 2011 by Management in Blog
How can you build a strong fibre-to-the-home network in a city using a more distributed social relationship management for all coordination? The following presentation shows how the Agora framework and conceptual thinking can travel in other industry and projects. It’s called the Mosaic Framework
Some key factors:
- Mosaic is a “process skeleton” which contains sets of practices and predefined four roles with the so called Tile Owners, Supervisors, Cell Masters and Targets.
- Mosaic enables the creation of self-organizing sales and marketing by encouraging citizen initiative and communication across the service area.
- A key implementations of the Mosaic systems for managing the overall process is its crowd-sourcing web technologies.
When ordinary citizens rewrite their constitution
Posted on 26. Sep, 2011 by Management in Blog
Here are slides from a presentation at an event organized by Association ADELE and officials in the field of participatory democracy on September 26th in Paris, France.
The theme of the talk was “When ordinary citizens rewrite their constitution“.
Presentation given by Gudjon Mar Gudjonsson director at Agora and facilitator at the grassroots organized Ministry of Ideas. Political context in Iceland was discussed and the process around the Constitutional Council of 25 ordinary citizens.
Additional reaction and comments where given by Bastien François who teaches political science at the University of Paris-I. Bastien François wrote a famous book for a new constitution: “The Constitution of the Sixth French Republic”. Additional reaction given by Philippe Aigrain, founder and CEO of Sopinspace, Society for Public Information Spaces, a company that develops free software and provides services for the public debate of policy issues. Additional input and discussions where given by many of the participants during the session.
Open Google Docs draft handbook for a 1.000 members Visioning Assembly
Posted on 11. Jul, 2011 by Management in Blog
The following link gives you access to our work-in-progress Visioning Assembly handbook we have presented to the organizers for SXSW.
- Draft Visioning Assembly Handbook
You are welcome to help us improve this facilitator handbook within this open Google Docs.
Roles at larger Visioning Assemblies
Posted on 05. Jul, 2011 by Management in Blog
To better understand the organization and administration of a larger scale visioning session, its important to discuss the different roles.
The following roles are needed to support a 1.000 participant visioning session:
- Participants. 1.000 participant that just represent themselves at the visioning event.
- Facilitators. 112 Facilitators, each facilitating 9 participants on its table.
- Zone Masters. 8 Zone Masters, each handling 14 Facilitators within its Zone.
- Runners. For each zone there are two runners that helps the Zone Masters to collect material and feed the back-office data center.
- Master of Ceremonies. Responsible for the overall timing and sync of each zone masters. The MC is facilitating each of the Zone Masters.
In addition to the above roles, there are staff members in charge of the facility and any back-office activity like data entry.
The following overview further explains each of the roles.
Participants
The participants don’t have to prepare themselves for the meeting and they represent no one but themselves.
Facilitators
Well trained facilitators are responsible for the flow of the discussion and the agenda on their tables. The facilitators can be volunteers that are participating at a greatly rewarding session that brings the best out of people. One of the responsibilities of the facilitators is to bring out as many viewpoints from the participants as possible, make certain that they are comfortable and feel independent and have a positive attitude.
All the facilitators have been well trained in managing the flow of the meeting. Individuals who are trained in human relations and have a positive attitude towards life, are chosen for this job. It’s like each facilitator is handling its own startup company of 9 people. Focusing on making it exciting and successful.
A great tactic in preparation for the Visioning session is to have each facilitator check-in with its 9 participants. Connect with them on email, by phone, social sites or other personal means. This will build trust and a commitment for the actual visioning event.
Zone Masters
The Zone Masters know the flow and methodology of the visioning assembly inside and out. They’re really the Jedi’s geeks and believers of the overall philosophy of the whole concept. The Zone Masters are in constant sync and communication with the Master of Ceremonies. The Zone Masters meet regularly at a center point operated by the MC where timing and progress is communicated and managed.
Runners
Runners are eager students that are volunteering to help the flow of information at the session. Each Zone Master have two Runners that assist them in any way needed. Mostly on collecting data from each of the tables at a time set by the MC.
Master of Ceremonies
The MC is the master Jedi of the overall visioning session. It’s an invisible guy that is focused on just facilitating the Zone Masters and keeping back-office in sync with overall assignments. The MC is also responsible for anything that is presented on the big screen or timing of announcements from the stage (that is kept at minimal).
Visioning Assembly handbook available in Icelandic
Posted on 25. Mar, 2011 by Management in Blog
Agora has been responsible for many company and government assemblies around Iceland since the methodology was first implemented around the grassroots organized session in 2009. The Visioning Assembly is a session that implements Value vs. Effort planning in the final results.
This document is now available for anyone interested in Iceland and can be freely downloaded here.
Epic Idea for SXSW
Posted on 16. Mar, 2011 by Management in Blog
Today is our last day at South by Southwest Conferences & Festivals in Austin, Texas. The SXSWi 2011 has been a fantastic experience for us. We had the chance to experience truly inspiring keynotes, informative meet-ups and panels, including our own panel “Rebooting Iceland”.
We ended a great conference with a good meeting with Hugh Forrest who is one of the main brain behind this amazing venue. There the opportunity was used to pith our Epic Idea for future SXSW events.
You can see our proposal in the following PDF document, as we really want to embrace open source & transparency. So, let’s keep this in the open.
Here is a summary of the idea.
National Assembly Facilitators Handbook
Posted on 02. Mar, 2011 by Management in Blog
On this page the handbook describing the methodology and instructions for the facilitators at the National Assembly on the Constitution can be downloaded.
According to the law set by the Parlament in 2010 the National Assembly is to be held in order to call for the public’s viewpoints and points of emphasis regarding the organisation of the country’s government and constitution and its changes. The objective of the meeting is to discuss the future structure of the society and the fundamental issues of the Icelandic Constitution.
The methodology of the meeting shall ensure that the outcome represents the viewpoints of those who attend the meeting, not the organisers’. The responsibility of the facilitators is to make sure that everyone at the table gets an equal opportunity to express himself/herself and to ensure active listening at the table so all viewpoints are heard.
In the first session there are questions about values and visions. We all have our own interpretation of values and visions. Value is a word that contains virtues, emotions and views. We all want to live in a good society, where communication between individuals is to our liking. We also want good rules and laws that form the frame around our communication with each other and with the society’s institutions.
For this to be possible our fundamental legislation, the constitution, must reflect the values and visions that are the basis of good communication and quality of life here in Iceland. This is the main input that we want to get from the first session. What are these values and visions? Core values in relation to the country, the nation and the world.
The participants of the National Assembly are not there as experts in constitutions. However, everyone is an expert in his or her own life vision. The constitution can accommodate to the life vision of the participants as it touches all the fundamental aspects of the society as well as the foundations of the legislation of the republic.
In the second session we start with a simple and open input question: “What do you want to see included in the new Icelandic Constitution?” In order to analyse the input better it may be as important and beneficial to discuss what kind of society we want the new Icelandic Constitution to reflect. It would then be the role of the Constitutional Assembly to perceive this vision and wish from the National Assembly.
The meeting process and the handbook
Agora ehf, that works for the Constitutional Committee is responsible for the management of the flow of the meeting. For further information regarding the process of the meeting contact: Guðjón Már Guðjónsson at gudjon@agora.is.
The publication of this document is subject to the terms of the user licence of Creative Commons Attribution –Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. Authors must be mentioned and the distribution is subject to the same terms in case of reproduction. Changes, further adaptation or new versions must be sent to gudjon@agora.is which makes the data accessible to others, subject to the same terms.
A brief introduction to the National Assembly and its organisation
Posted on 02. Mar, 2011 by Management in Blog
By Gudjon Mar Gudjonsson, Agora.
When the organisation of a National Assembly is mentioned, it is usually the ideology behind the flow of the meeting, the creative thinking and the democratic dialogue of the participants that the reference is made to.
A National Assembly is based on the absolute impartiality of everyone concerned. This means that no speeches or coercion of topics take place at the meeting itself. Instead, previously trained facilitators are responsible for the flow of the discussion and the agenda on their tables. The participants don’t have to prepare themselves for the meeting and they represent no one but themselves.
It is assumed that all the facilitators have been trained in managing the flow of the meeting. Individuals who are trained in human relations and have a positive attitude towards life, are chosen for this job.
One of the responsibilities of the facilitators is to bring out as many viewpoints from the participants as possible, make certain that they are comfortable and feel independent and have a positive attitude.
The main purpose of the announcers or chairmen is to create tranquillity. Therefore, there are almost no announcements or direct chairing at this meeting. The communication between the facilitators and the announcers is composed and with a minimum disruption.
The basis of the methodology of the National Assembly is to always use discussion rounds (brainstorming), where everyone has the same right to express his ideas. The participants put forth their ideas with short explanations on small cards. Simplicity is emphasised when going round and round, ensuring everyone an equal relevancy.
The key element of the National Assembly is to start the meetings by creating a frame of mind with a discussion about the attitudes, values or visions that the subject is based upon. As an example if a meeting is about the constitution, a question would be asked about what should be the core values in a new constitution. This discussion on values is an icebreaker for the meeting and creates trust between the participants.
At the end of the first half the participants select the core values by democratic voting. The conclusions from all the tables are given to the chairmen of the meeting who group them in a certain way and find which values or visions are predominant at the meeting. The overall conclusion of the meeting on the core values is then announced. This creates faith on behalf of the participants in the methodology of the National Assembly, right from the beginning.
Formulations and discussions about the proposals of the idea card, start in the second half of the meeting. It is important that the question is simple, clear and that it allows the participants to grasp the subject totally. When discussing the future vision of a nation one could ask; “How do you want to see the Icelandic society in the future?”, and when discussing the constitution one can ask; “What is important to include in the constitution of Iceland?” etc.
Free discussion creates an atmosphere at the meeting. The participants always decide which topics they want to bring forward, at any time. That enables them to work at their own speed and deliver their proposals as they choose. It is easy to put forward ideas with reference to visions or values from the first part of the meeting. This gives the participants a convenient framework in which to work.
The facilitator always serves the table the best he can and helps with the grouping of the proposals, in close cooperation with the participants. The facilitators never discuss individual topics or take a stand for or against the participants’ proposals. The facilitator makes sure that the participants at the table agree on the categorisation on the table which is automatically formulated by the grouping. The facilitator makes sure that acceptable category titles are formulated on the table.
Towards the end of the first part of the meeting the back office has processed the data from the discussions about values and visions. The final themes of the National Assembly have thus been formulated. This method ensures that the meeting itself formulates the themes instead of them being prescribed or created by a small number of specialists. This generates trust and demonstrates that it is the participants themselves who are in control.
The participants now start a discussion about how the proposals of the idea card can best be tied in with our values and visions. This creates depth in the discussion where everyday discussions about ideas are now tied into our attitude towards life and our basic values. This will also result in an open discussion which will be directed at several themes.
In the next session of the meeting the guests have had lunch and the areas and tables have been re-grouped according to the themes. The participants all go to a new table except one person who stays behind. Everyone goes to a table where there is a stack of values cards.
At the new table the participants help each other to group the proposals on the table. This work creates new sub-categories. The same method is always used throughout the meeting and the facilitator makes sure all the participants at the table are active in categorising in a clear way as well as deepening the discussion even more.
After the participants have come to an agreement about a clear and substantial structure of the main themes on the table, the next task can be addressed. Every participant will choose the priorities he feels are most important as well as mark the issues he finds new and important. By marking new items, ideas are brought forward that could renew and bring in positive, fresh currents into the Icelandic society. This could create an opportunity for a new approach, a new way of thinking or a change from old ways.
The participants will complete this task by formulating a statement on each table. The statement is to include the most important items in the theme that was being worked on, items that people feel should characterise the constitution of the Icelandic republic. When this has been done all the data is collected on each table and a special caution is used to save all connections that have shaped the data at the meeting.
The participants now go back to their home group, each one having worked with a different theme. At the home table the participants discuss the main conclusions from their workgroups. This creates provisions and proposals for one of the final products of the meeting which are recommendations or requests to the Constitutional Assembly and other parties, such as the government, the media, grassroots movements etc. The participants formulate their recommendations according to what they think is most important to keep in mind when continuing the work (at the constitution) both with regard to the discussion at the meeting and their opinions in general.
The meeting is brought to an end with announcements and a summary of the conclusions of the meeting.
However, the employees of the meeting will continue their work and have a work meeting where the proposals will be grouped, repetitions will be taken out and ideas that are identical will be joined. Therefore it will be possible to introduce the main conclusions of the meeting already the next day.
Video introduction from the grassroots organised National Assembly in 2009 by the Anthill, Iceland:
Summary of tasks, objectives and the timetable
Arrival and refreshments. From 8:15 – 9:00
Introduction and expectations at the tables. From 9:00 – 9:20
1st session 45 min. Values and visions of the constitution. Time 9:20 – 10:05
The objectives of this session are twofold: On the one hand to find out what visions or values we want to be the foundation of the Icelandic Constitution. On the other hand to unite the participants from the beginning and create a positive atmosphere.
Voting – Selecting the values. 10 min. Time 10:05 – 10:15
2nd session: 70 min. The content of the new constitution. Time 10:30 – 11:40
The objective of this session is to call for the participants’ proposals for the content of the new constitution. The participants put forth their ideas about specific issues which they think the constitution should contain or address.
Lunch. 45 min. Time 11:40 – 12:25
3rd session: 30 min. Categorising the themes. Time 12:25 – 12:55
The objective in this session is to categorise the ideas about the content of the new constitution into themes which have been created from the values that came out of the first session of the meeting.
4th session: 15 min. A visit to new tables and personal introductions. Time 12:55 – 13:10
Each participant at the table gets one theme which he/she will bring over to a new table with new people who are addressing the same theme.
5th session: 30 min. Categorising and uniting repeated ideas. Time 13:10 – 13:40
The objective in this session is to summarise the overall input within the theme. This is done by grouping, taking repetitions from different tables and starting to build up a theme with a new categorisation.
6th session: 20 min. Specialisation, discussion and deepening. Time 13:40 – 14:00
The objective of this session is to deepen the discussion into the theme and make sure nothing is left out.
7th session: 20 min. Main emphases and a new way of thinking. Time 14:00 – 14:20
The objective with this session is to find out, with a simple voting, on the one hand the main points of emphasis and on the other hand a new way of thinking.
8th session: 5 min. Notes taken of the results from each theme. Time 14:20 – 14:25
The objective of this session is to make a note of the main results of the table, based on the input that prevailed in the voting.
Coffee break. 15 min. Time 14:25 – 14:40
9th session: 20 min. Writing sentences and finish. Time 14:40 – 15:00
The objective of this session is to write a strong sentence about the main input of the relevant theme, taking into account the recent voting. At the end of the assembly the sentence may be read out loud for all the participants.
A short break. 10 min. Time 15:00 – 15:10
10th session: 20 min. Back to the home-table. Time 15:10 – 15:30
The objective in this session is to bring out information from each participant about the discussions and results from the theme each of them discussed.
11th session: 40 min. Recommendations and requests. Time 15:30 – 16:10
The objective of this session is to bring out recommendations, advice or requests for the people who will continue and finish the work towards the forming of a new constitution. The cards reflect the topics that the participants consider the most important guidelines for the continuing work for a new constitution.
12th session: 40 min. Presentations, evaluations and roundup. 16:10 – 16:50
The objective in this session is to help the participants at the National Assembly get a better understanding and knowledge of the work that has been done since the morning.
13th session: Closing session and canapés with music. 17:00 – 18:00
Summary from themes at the National Assembly 2010 on the Constitution
Posted on 02. Feb, 2011 by Management in Blog
Here you find a summary of the 8 themes from the National Assembly on the Constitution. This assembly was organized and facilitated by Agora for the Parlament of Iceland in November 2010.
The assembly process gave us the following 8 themes:
National Assembly Methodologies in Icelandic
Posted on 22. Nov, 2010 by Management in Blog
Agora was responsible for a 1.000 member National Assembly on a new Constitution for Iceland in November 2010 for the Icelandic Parliament.
Following the Assembly, Agora has published many of the documents that covers the methodology and the facilitation framework.
This documentation is available in Icelandic for anyone interested from the following page: