Difference between revisions of "Opportunity Spaces (33)"

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(Goals to Be Met)
 
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technological systems) to help create new (and improve existing)
 
technological systems) to help create new (and improve existing)
 
"opportunity spaces" for people and communities who need them.
 
"opportunity spaces" for people and communities who need them.
Text: Douglas Schuler; Image: Wikimedia Commons
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Strategic Capacity (34)
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Text: Douglas Schuler
Occasionally, a small group with meager resources fighting a powerful foe,
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===Goals to Be Met===
actually wins. One of the most famous examples is David vanquishing
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Goliath. A thousand other struggles, against poverty, against oppression,
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1. Volunteers
against environmental degradation, retell the story with equally improbable
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:Opportunity spaces rely on entities providing or aiding with future possibilities. Players can provide volunteer opportunities.  With this shared vision card, when a player gives volunteers to another player to develop property, they have amnesty three times on rent payments.
outcomes. What's the secret to these unlikely successes? Resources
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2. Money
don't tell the whole story: the powerful group sometimes fails while the
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:Opportunity also relies on equity. So whatever payments normally go to the bank go to the middle of the board instead. It serves as a grant for whoever lands on Free Parking.
impoverished group succeeds. Neither does the idea of "political
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3. Buildings
opportunity." And characteristics such as dedication, drive, emotional
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:If everybody has equitable opportunities, all the neighborhoods should develop.  All players must develop at least one property.
commitment don't always portend success or failure of activist struggles or
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4. Trees
social movements. According to Marshall Ganz, "Leaders devise strategy
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:Lastly, opportunity spaces rely on a feedback loop.  4 properties around the board must be developed with 4 trees to create a space where people can meet to create new opportunities.
in interaction with their environments." He stresses that leadership teams
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are more likely to have effective Strategic Capacity when they include
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"insiders" and "outsiders", have strong and weak "ties" (connections) to a
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variety of networks, and have "knowledge of diverse collective action
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repertoires." Based on Ganz's reading of Jerome Bruner, "Strategic
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thinking is reflexive and imaginative, based on ways leaders learn to
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reflect on the past, attend to the present, and anticipate the future."
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Text
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Latest revision as of 03:32, 22 May 2011

Opportunities help determine the possible paths to the future that are available to people. Hence the opportunities that society offers are of critical importance. An Opportunity Space presents possible steps that people might take as they plan for, and move into, the future. Opportunities can include classes and seminars, volunteer positions, jobs, contests, access to the media, timely announcements, mentoring, scholarships, grants and others. A number of questions came up in our exploration of opportunity spaces. What opportunities exist? Do they exist for all citizens or just privileged ones? How are these opportunities developed? Do people know about them? How are they publicized? It is important to devote attention and resources (including policy, services, media and technological systems) to help create new (and improve existing) "opportunity spaces" for people and communities who need them.

Text: Douglas Schuler

Goals to Be Met

1. Volunteers

Opportunity spaces rely on entities providing or aiding with future possibilities. Players can provide volunteer opportunities. With this shared vision card, when a player gives volunteers to another player to develop property, they have amnesty three times on rent payments.

2. Money

Opportunity also relies on equity. So whatever payments normally go to the bank go to the middle of the board instead. It serves as a grant for whoever lands on Free Parking.

3. Buildings

If everybody has equitable opportunities, all the neighborhoods should develop. All players must develop at least one property.

4. Trees

Lastly, opportunity spaces rely on a feedback loop. 4 properties around the board must be developed with 4 trees to create a space where people can meet to create new opportunities.