This is what I’ve been working on this past week: http://collectiveagency.co/

I like the questions that come up in hearing someone talk passionately about something, I like learning and asking and thinking thoughts that I had not thought before, and wondering, and exploring.

And so when I see a quote like this, I try to see the original context and intent, to disagree with it as directly as I can, if I think that is interesting as a way of exploring, or agreeing with it as much as I can, if that is interesting (sometimes it is both at once) and sometimes to share.

With that said, I think these down the page are great fun big questions to think about. And in reading, I like to think, it is interesting to ask these questions of oneself or of someone else, expecting that they can do these things, at least metaphorically. Because really, “Have you commanded the morning?” reminds me of “time blocking”, of saying, “This morning I will do these things, I will be in self-control, self-directed, I will make these phone calls and accomplish this task of _________ for this purpose of _____________.” And “Have you entered the springs of the sea?” I would love to be asked that, expecting that there is some way to do that. Even in day-to-day life, how I can enter the springs of the sea? What does that mean?! “Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth?” ”Have the gates of death been revealed to you?” “Has the rain a father?” Take sides for and against. Discuss!

Seriously and not-so-literally, these might make great conversation topics for personal growth and philosophy.

“Can you hunt the prey for the lion?” You can, but probably better to let the lion hunt for herself.

Via the Old Testament, God asks Job:

12 “Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
And caused the dawn to know its place,
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
And the wicked be shaken out of it?
14 It takes on form like clay under a seal,
And stands out like a garment.
15 From the wicked their light is withheld,
And the upraised arm is broken.

16 “Have you entered the springs of the sea?
Or have you walked in search of the depths?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you?
Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18 Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth?
Tell Me, if you know all this.

19 “Where is the way to the dwelling of light?
And darkness, where is its place,
20 That you may take it to its territory,
That you may know the paths to its home?
21 Do you know it, because you were born then,
Or because the number of your days is great?

22 “Have you entered the treasury of snow,
Or have you seen the treasury of hail,
23 Which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
For the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is light diffused,
Or the east wind scattered over the earth?

25 “Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water,
Or a path for the thunderbolt,
26 To cause it to rain on a land where there is no one,
A wilderness in which there is no man;
27 To satisfy the desolate waste,
And cause to spring forth the growth of tender grass?
28 Has the rain a father?
Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice?
And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth?
30 The waters harden like stone,
And the surface of the deep is frozen.

31 “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades,
Or loose the belt of Orion?
32 Can you bring out Mazzaroth in its season?
Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs?
33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
Can you set their dominion over the earth?

34 “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
That an abundance of water may cover you?
35 Can you send out lightnings, that they may go,
And say to you, ‘Here we are!’?
36 Who has put wisdom in 1the mind?
Or who has given understanding to the heart?
37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom?
Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven,
38 When the dust hardens in clumps,
And the clods cling together?

39 “Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 When they crouch in their dens,
Or lurk in their lairs to lie in wait?”

* * *

“Have you entered the springs of the sea?” I have seen where waterfalls start as streams, I have felt the tides and currents pulling me along in Coney Island or pulling against me in the Danube, I have explored how some things start… I might like to go deep sea diving sometime. It’s interesting to think how the sea might flow from springs, how water here might get here from there, and where does a drop of water travel, and how does this relate to my work? maybe how does one person get from here to there. And that inspires me with visual images, it might give me interesting dreams tonight, it might inspire communication systems of some kind. For maybe 15 minutes each day, I’d like to command my pre-bedtime time of eve, thinking like this.

The Hub is one of my favorite models for coworking spaces. They have their own currency: the Ven.

Stan Stalnaker’s TechCrunch article is Bitcoin, Ven and the End of Currency.

He provides an overview of virtual currency, and shares some facts about Ven.

I think it’s important to have local currency, on the scale of a city or smaller. And for companies, and departments within companies, to have their own virtual currency. Here’s why:

Very similar to virtual currency, although it’s regulated, is Class B stock in companies. Class B stock lets investors in a company trade the “currency” valuing that company’s reputation… without letting investors have decision-making power over the people doing the work in the company. That’s the way all stock should be.

Local currencies, especially when the value is not tied to another currency, are a valuable self-regulating feedback mechanism that benefit people and economies: read Cities and the Wealth of Nations by Jane Jacobs.

And listen to This American Life’s “The Invention of Money“, exploring: What is money?, a society that used giant stones as currency, how Brazil changed from one currency to another to stop enormous inflation, and what the Federal Reserve does.

Today a guest post I wrote about coworking, called “Why a coworking incubator program is good for Portland,” appeared on Silicon Florist, Portland’s most influential tech blog.

One of my favorite ways to build community is by telling stories, especially by interviewing members so they tell their stories in an interesting way.

Starting out, I like to choose at least three and no more than five questions, and end by asking the most open-ended question: “What else?” Over time, as the members begin to read each other’s stories, the community begins to “open up,” and I like to make the interviews more elaborate.

Here are two short interviews from this year at Portland Oregon’s longest-running coworking space, souk, with Mike Thelin and Jennifer Costello, and here’s a more complex interview from 2007 with Sanford Dickert, a founder of CooperBricolage, the predecessor to NYC’s coworking space New Work City.

Sanford taught me the importance of visual layout with these interviews: notice the photo placement and whitespace around each photo, and the bold and italicized interviewer questions.

The format of these questions came naturally to me (my first interview was in elementary school, when I interviewed my dad and grandma for a “family history” class project). In the years since then, I’ve been most influenced by Roger Dunbar‘s management class at NYU’s Stern School of Business, where we practiced J.P. Spradley’s “The Ethnographic Interview” (definitely recommended reading), and by practice doing thousands of interviews (not all for community building).