Languages and understanding

While trying to make sense of my final project and my life and all those things I constantly try to make sense of, I have discovered how fascinating it is to tell people about an idea, well, it doesn’t sound as exciting when I write it here, but what I mean is that everytime you tell something to a person, you slightly change the story, you think of what is relevant to this person, and what would catch their attention, and slightly modify the way you say things or what you give priority to. What I then find fascinating about this process, is that it actually helps me understand better what it is I have in my head. Well, I already knew that I make sense of things through conversation, it is just that I have had to had many conversations about a single topic than I usually have, and when I am struggling myself to understand what it is I want to do then I actually find the process very rewarding.

And writing, cause it is not just about the conversations, but actually writing an email and trying to explain what the whole thing is about, and here something interesting has happened too, the fact that I am in Denmark, studying in English, and doing a project in Colombia means that I am constantly dealing with 3 languages… so there is a lot of translation going on, and this in itself is a very interesting (though time consuming) process, because somethings sound better in one language than in other, somethings make more sense in one language than the other, or there is an expression that perfectly explains what I want to say…

This is not to say that the fact that I am dealing with 3 languages makes me understand things better, it only means I get confused in 3 different languages!

multi-language disfunctional stress disorders…

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Lidiando conmigo

La semana pasada fue un poco dificil de manejar… mejor dicho, yo fui un poco dificil de manejar, no la semana. Con esto de la incertidumbre del trabajo final y de todas las otras cosas de la vida me empiezo a sentir fuera de lugar y a dudar de mis capacidades y a sentirme vulnerable y con miedo de no saber que hacer y bueno, bloqueada totalmente. Y sentirse bloqueada no es lo que más me ayuda en este momento para avanzar en mi proyecto final de la escuela ni para nada en absoluto.

Es increible cómo caigo tan facilmente en la comparación con otras personas, cómo pienso que los demás si tienen buenas ideas, si saben que es lo que tienen que hacer, si tienen un buen proyecto, si pueden hacer algo bueno… y me encierro tanto en mis inseguridades que me da hasta miedo hablar con la gente! Nisiquiera disfruto una conversación con otras personas que puede enriquecerme y sacarme del atolladero porque estoy usando tanta energia comparandome y sintiendome menos que los demás.

Porqué?

La gente en general se siente asi? Piensa que es mejor no contribuir porque no tienen suficiente que ofrecer? Piensan que es mejor no hacer algo por miedo al fracaso? Nunca llegan a desarrollar una idea porque tienen miedo siquiera de contarla a los demás?

En Boston, un señor que entrevistamos como parte de la experiencia laboral de Rowan dijo algo que me parece muy válido. Dijo que el lo que había hecho en la vida era identificar que era lo que queria aprender, y a partir de eso se inventaba alguna forma de investigar esos temas, trabajar con ellos, invitar a otros, hacer consultoria, y de esa manera ganar plata y hacer de sus intereses su trabajo. Entonces la cuestión es que aveces lo más importante no es necesariamente lo que uno sabe o lo que uno puede, sino cual es su motivación, que lo mueve o lo inspira a uno…

A veces pienso que las personas que llegan finalmente a hacer algo, a generar un cambio no necesariamente son quienes estan mejor preparadas, sino quienes no estan apendejadas por el miedo y tienen la capacidad de inspirar a otros y rodearse de personas que los complementan.

Tal vez las personas nos movemos en dos tipos de situaciones que generan energia. Una es el de sentir que uno ha logrado una cierta maestria en algun area, que uno sabe hacer algo, que se puede desempeñar profesionalmente en algo, que puede enseñar algo. Y eso genera autoestima y genera seguridad en uno mismo. Y la otra energia es la de querer investigar algo, querer aprender, querer saber más acerca de algo.

Por lo menos yo siento que debo aprender a encontrar un balance entre esas dos energias, y usarlas a mi favor, que no se revelen en mi contra.

Que quiero aprender con mi proyecto final? Cuales son mis objetivos de aprendizaje?
Quiero tener experiencia en establecer un equipo de trabajo, desarrollar una idea, y plantear un proyecto. Quiero saber más acerca del emprendiemiento en Colombia, quiero aprender más acerca de el emprendimiento social en general, del liderazgo, de la educación. Quiero saber si es posible trabajar desde la educación no formal para fomentar el emprendimiento social. Quiero trabajar en algo que tenga algún impacto positivo en otras personas, mi interes en la vida no es ganar plata, quiero tener la oportunidad de trabajar con gente motivada por buscar alternativas positivas en pro de un futuro mejor.

Si este trabajo final es una oportunidad para explorar algunos de esos objetivos, cómo es que no lo disfruto en lugar de amargarme?

Es bien dificil organizar mi propio tiempo y sentir que no se cual es el paso a seguir y que es lo correcto. Con quien debo hablar, a quien le debo escribir, cómo me debo expresar, que debo explicar, cómo uso mi tiempo de la mejor manera, cómo mantenerme motivada, cómo perder el miedo a compartir ideas con otros, cómo atreverme a preguntar, cómo atreverme a pedir ayuda? Cómo mantener la calma y estar animada y cuidarme a mi y al guambito que esta en la panza?

Por ahora intento disfrutar de lo que tengo y trato de no hacerme la vida tan dificil. Montar bicicleta, salir a caminar, hacer mi comidita, cantarle a la panza, leer… afortunadamente tampoco necesito de mucho para sentirme contenta. Aprender a ser feliz con cosas simples es tal vez la cosa más importante que he aprendido en la vida. Ya ven, algo aprendo… tan burra tampoco soy.

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design + social innovation …. looking for project partners

Dear _____
As I know you are people working with the challenges of design education I have decided to approach you with a project proposal that I think might catch your interest.

I am in my last year at the Kaospilot, a creative business school with a lot of enfasis in social entrepreneurship. After a fantastic 3 yr ride I am working on my final (or as I see it “begining”) project.

With a background in Design, Education and Technology (visit www.pataleta.net to see more about me); the places I have been to, the people I have worked with, the realities I have tried to understand and learn from. I find myself with a great interest in investigating the intersection between social innovation and design.

On the one hand I see the design profession having developed an important practical approach in relation to prototype development, dealing with alternatives, solution finding, sense making etc. And these are portrait a relevant way of thinking when talking about social change.

This leads me to think that the design profession can play a very prominent role in the building of our future. However, when I look at what design education is based on (and I might be outdated, but this is my perception) I see that it is mainly geared towards answering the needs of an industrial society: Design products or services, promote consumption… but what is the future of design when not working towards an industrial society? What does design do in a knowledge society? What is the responsibility of design in the building of a better world? And from this question, the one that I really feel passion for:
Can we, or should we change something in design education to promote the intersection between design and social innovation?

I am looking for project partners, people that could be interested in the same topics, and that would like to play a role in this project.

My plan is to engage in an open research adventure, I have an overview of interesting things going on in the world in this regards, but I would like to deepen and gather that knowledge. The idea is to create a simple online platform for publishing interviews in the form of vod/podcasts. I want to interview people working with these topics, hear their challenges, their best practices, their motivation, their dreams, their burning questions, their inspiration… and with this information develop a an educational module, to be tested of as a pilot with a group of design students.

The time frame for the project up to the pilot is from now until the end of april.

Are you, or do you know anybody who could be interested in playing and working with meon this project?
Send me your comments, your questions, concerns and smiles, that takes me one step further in the process.

Download a short presentation of the idea.

Thank you.

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Trabajo final idea 2.

A raiz de las cosas que he estudiado, los sitios en los que he trabajado, las charlas inspiradoras que he tenido, los sitios que he visitado y las realidades que he tratado de entender y de las cuales he tratado de aprender, tengo un gran interes en investigar la intersección entre el diseño y la innovación social. Por un lado considero el ejercicio del diseño cómo una profesion de la cual se puede aprender mucho con respecto a desarrollar prototipos, presentar alternativas, encontrar soluciones a problemas y eso considero que es una manera de pensar muy relevante cuando se esta hablando de cambio social.

Esto me lleva a pensar que el la profesión del diseño puede jugar un papel muy importante en la construcción del futuro. Sin embargo, si miro en que está basada la educación del diseño, veo que en gran medida esta pensada para responder a las necesidades de una sociedad industrial, diseñar productos, promover consumo… pero entonces cual es el futuro del diseño al no funcionar en pro de una sociedad industrial? que hace el diseño en una sociedad del conocimiento? cual es la responsabilidad del diseño en la construcción de un mundo mejor? Y a partir de esta pregunta, una aun más importante, se puede o se debe cambiar algo en la educación del diseño que promueva la interesección entre el diseño y la innovación social?

Inicialmente lo que quiero hacer es mirar que esta sucediendo en el mundo con respecto a esto, tal vez hacer entrevistas, recolectar información, inspiración, hacer una investigación abierta a manera de blogs y con entrevistas en video que muestren reflexiones de gente interesada en este tema. Y posteriormente, si logro encarretar a alguna escuela de diseño en el cuento, desarrollar un taller piloto con miras a crear tal vez un modulo, o un posgrado, o un curso, o alguna manera de integrar esta opción en la educación del diseño.

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creative leadership workshops (in cross-cultural settings)

This is one of the possible ideas for my kaospilot final project. What I am thinking of is developing what we started in Cuba, try it out in Colombia(and perhaps in the future extend it to Latin America). A way to plant seeds and promote social entrepreneurship in Colombia.

Some people have been talking about the possibility of starting a kaospilot school in Colombia, or in Latin America, I kind of think that it is perhaps too early for that, and that if open rigtht now, such a school would be mainly targeted to young privileged people, people who have the economic means to try out this kind of education, I think this might not be the right approach for the social needs of Colombia.

Before actually starting a school, I would like to develop a program of short courses, a more flexible way of working with the same kind of issues as the kaospilos school works with that would allow the program to reach more people from a wider social spectrum. That would empower and inspire those that need it the most, and that is not dependant on a big infrastructure in order to survive.

I would like to work with young people who would not otherwise have the opportunity to access further education, and in whom I see a great potential for making a possitive contribution to their communities.

My idea is be to design and carry out two week workshops with groups of no more than 15 people in a very hands on approach training skills such as team work, communication, proactive planning, personal leadership, creative project management, problem solving, techniques for idea development and prototyping and the use of invormation and communication technologies.

Ideally the participants will come to the course with an existing project that they are working on or are interested in, and that would like to develop, the projects should have a social perspective, intending to generate a reflection about a social issue and a possitive impact in their communities.

An important perspective of the course is to work in a perspective of co-creation. It is not about taking the european or first world way of thinking and impossing it onto other people, it is not about comming with solutions or recipies, that has been tried many times before, and has been proven unsuccessful more than enough times. What I think is interesting is the perspective of empowering people to find their own solutions, to take responsibility for their lives, to be part of making a better future for themselves, to learn to free themselves from the self-image of being victims.

This is also an invaluable opportunity for me to learn. Working with motivated people and having the privilege of sharing their dreams is perhaps one of the most amazing gifts life can give one. I don’t see it as a transfer of tools, as me filling empty buckets with information, I see it as an oportunity for all the participants including me to engage in a learning adventure together. More than answers I am interested in people getting better at asking questions, at being curious, at trying new things, at thinking of the common and not only on their own personal gain, I am interested in people exploring their natural abilities for learning, for knowing themselves, for inspiring others.

And inspiration is a very important aspects, one of my objectives is that after the course some of the participants would be involved in designing a new course, and would be part of facilitaing. It is very important that the project is not dependant on me, I would like to see myself as the one planting seeds, and that seeds will fly and start new crops in other parts with other groups. I would like to see this project growing organically not industrially, and certainly not dependant on bureaucratic
The vision I have with this workshops is that they can be carried out in different parts of the country (I love travelling my beautiful contry, so that is not a bad thing) and that they should be accompanied by an online community platform where the participants can post information on themselves, the course and the projects they are working on, using text, pictures, video and sound. The intention with this is in different areas:

• Extend the time and geographical reach of the workshops
• Familiarize participants with the use of new media and information and communication technologies
• Inspire others
• Promote cross polination of projects and hopefully in the future see how collaboration emerges among participants throughout the country

I am right now looking for partners and people that could be interested in trying this out, I have made this website

liderazgo creativo

Let’s see what happens…

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