Month: November 2009

Pear & Cranberry Chutney from my Recipe Circle

Pear & Cranberry ChutneyPer many Twitter requests…. Happy Thanksgiving (US holiday, but spirit is universal).

Pear & Cranberry Chutney – Recipe Circle | Google Groups
From: Gifts from the Kitchen, Williams Sonoma Kitchen Library

2 cups (14 oz/40g) firmly packed golden brown sugar
3/4 cu (3 oz/90g) dried cranberries
1/2 cup (4fl oz/125 mil) orange juice
1/2 cup (2 1/2 oz/75g) minced shallot (I’ve also used red onion)
3 tablespoons minced, peeled fresh ginger
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I’ve also improvised with other yummy spices like star anise)
3/8 teaspoon read pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 lob (500 g) pears, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2 inch dice
4 cups (1 lb/500g) fresh or frozen cranberries

In a heavy non aluminm saucepan over medium heat, combine the brown sugar,  dried cranberries, orange juice, shallot, ginger, vinegar, orange juice, shallot, ginger, vinegar, orange zest, cinnamon, red pepper flakes and salt. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the pears and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pears are tender, about 10 minutes.

Increase  the heat to medium high. Add the fresh or frozen cranberries and boil, stirring frequently, until they begin to burst, about 5 minutes.

(the rest is canning directions — you don’t need that do you? I  freeze whatever isn’t scarfed up. Much easier!)

Pretty chutney

Communities of practice: Linking knowledge, policy and practice

From theother66 on Flickr - thanks Allison!Communities of practice: Linking knowledge, policy and practice – is a paper that Simon Hearn from the Overseas Development Institute and I have been puttering on for quite some months. Now it emerges from the editing process at last. (Funny how so many writing projects in my life take so long. Maybe that’s why I like blogging!

The knowledge gained by research is often trapped at the point of origin, caught in the language of research, or simply isolated from those who actually apply that knowledge – the practitioners in the field. Likewise, tacit knowledge from the field rarely reaches the researchers or those making decisions. More effective bridges between knowledge, policy and practice are needed, with communities of practice (CoPs) well positioned to do just that.

This paper describes the basic characteristics of CoPs and provides a rationale for their growing importance in international development. It also suggests some ways in which CoPs can be supported by development agencies, research institutes and donors to strengthen the linkages between knowledge, policy and practice.

Published by ODI.

Communities of Practice: linking knowledge, policy and practice PDF

Photo Credit:

cc on Flickr, Uploaded on February 10, 2009
by theother66

I CAN pronouce Mooloolaba

From theother66 on Flickr, creative commonsThe last leg of my Australian adventure took me north to the Queensland beach town of Mooloolaba. I had been practicing my pronounciation so I would not mess up. Again. Last year I presented via video to the Learning Technologies 2008 conference. This year (Learning Technologies 2009 or Twitter tag #lt2009) I got to be there in the flesh and I wanted to get it right. MOO – LOO – LA – BAH with equal emphasis on all the syllables!

On Wednesday I ran a half day workshop on Technology Stewardship. (As promised, the slides are here.) It was a pleasure to hang out with Anne Bartlett-Bragg, Claire Bray, Paul Doherty, Jay Mair, BronwynDavies, Billy Ramadas, Gillian Smith, Alison Bickford, Colin Warren , and Mary McVay. We explored their own technology stewardship in their communities with the Spidergram exercise, some playing around with the Social Media game cards and conversations about our work. The afternoon flew by.

Digital Habitats Nov09 Frameworks

View more presentations from Nancy White.

Then we retired to the Mooloolaba Surf Club for the official opening cocktail party. Surf Clubs are an important part of Australian coast culture and it was fun to get a peek inside of the place where all the volunteer lifeguards hang out, as well as a critical community center.

The conference proper was Thursday and Friday. I helped kick off Thursday with the keynote, “Me, We and the Network,” where I continued on my theme about the importance of having a line of sight to the full range of learning contexts – individual learning, group or community (bounded), and the wider, free-ranging network environment. In the middle of the talk, I tapped the group in the room to help me sing happy birthday to Larry, since I would miss his birthday on the 21st. They did a brilliant job!

Me Weand Everyone Nov09 Learning Technologies conference

View more presentations from Nancy White.

Tweetclace While in Mooloolaba and surrounding area, I did a little shopping, including a Tweetclace! Bronwyn Stuckey (@Bronst), Joyce Seitzinger (@catspyjamasnz) and I went to the Eumondi markets and I, um, supported the local economy!

Gippsland, KMLF and the Warm Melbourne Mob

Gipps CollageIf this is Sunday, I must have been in Victoria state, landing in Melbourne, then being taken kindly out to the beautiful Gippsland by old online friend Brad Beach. Out to the rolling hills, the hospitality of he an Bron (who made an Australian Chocolate Ripple cake for me!!) and the thrill of hanging out with their beautiful baby boy. Brad took up the challenge of trying to help me see a roo in the wild, but I think all the marsupials in Australia are laughing their butts off at the American who never sees them.

On Monday, Brad gave me the chance to hang out with his amazing cohort of online facilitators from Gippstafe – people who totally get what it means to connect with and teach with others online. Gipps has been a center for online facilitator capacity development in Oz. We talked about our practices, what we have learned and what we aspire to learn. Plus had some great homemade cake. Do you notice a pattern here?

melbourne collageThen back in the car and into town to spend the afternoon with the Knowledge Management Rountable to talk about Digital Habitats and Technology Stewardship. (I will get the slides up on Slideshare eventually…can’t hog all the wifi where I am at the moment!) A special shout out to Michele Lambert, my host, who not only warmly welcomed me, but was a fantastic engaging partner in the afternoon. Oh, and we had scones. 😉

The evening brought me to the KMLF gathering where we played with the idea of individual/group/network in more playful ways. I have to say, the Melbourne KM community (or is it a network?) is intelligent, friendly, and really crazy. Afterward we went for an (over)abundant Chinese meal at Post-Mao.

After the hospitality from Keith De La Rue for my co-conspirator, Matt Moore and I, it was off on Tuesday to run two half day workshops on online community. Again, a vibrant, intelligent and engaged group in both the morning and afternoon as we explored the nuts and bolts of our online community and network practices. We gathered in an amazing place – and darn it, I can’t remember the name. So again, I’ll have to come back to that.

Then we zoomed off to the airport and I headed for the semi-tropical shores of Mooloolaba, an hour north of Brisbane, my last stop in Oz.

I want to give out link love to all these great people, but if I did that, I’d NEVER post this, so maybe I can circle back and do this later. (Hahahaha). I love ya’ll and you know who you are.

Some posts and related digital bits from the days…

Community, New & Familiar Friends

Saturday was a great day in Adelaide. No airplanes and no scheduled talks or workshops so I could let my mind flow and not hold tight to any particular focus. Lovely.

The day started with a walk to the Adelaide Central market via the Adelaide Christmas pageant route where I saw thousands of people – families – lining the streets waiting for the start of a parade. It is wild to see a Christmas event in 40 degree centigrade heat, with “survival stations” along the way.

I then met up with Mike Seyfang (@fang), Mark Thomson of the Institute for Backyard Studies, and John Legg and Chris Rawlinson of Helpful Partners. Alas, our buddy Dave Wallace (aka LifeKludger) could not join us. We missed him, because the conversation around tinkering, creatively remixing physical and digital materials to serve real, local needs related to much of Dave’s passions and talents.

Mark had brought up the conversation on tinkering, having seen me muse about it on my blog in the context of technology stewardship. I was hungry for the conversation.

Mike put up a great blog post capturing some of the conversation. He tied it to my Friday preso on communities and networks and it is worth re-sharing the tweets and links Mike put on the post.

fang #edayz09 a community would notice @dnwallace is not here, the network simply drops the (weak) connection … @nancywhite keynote reflection.

Chris and John run a local consultancy called ‘Helpful Partners’ who specialise in making complex information clear and accessible.

Mark is the ‘old tool’ responsible for the awesome ‘Institute of BackYard Studies‘ home of shed culture and master of the great Australian piss-take. Someone I’ve been wanting to meet for a long time (thanks GB) Author of fine books like :

The Central Market meetup was really an extraordinary treat as these four wonderful guys each brought something different that magically connected to what was a very coherent “whole” for me.

Then it was time to meet up again with Michael and on to picking up E-Dayz star, Cathy Moore, and seeing her off to the airport with a few more music stories on the way. Then we drove out to the beach to have lunch with Frankie Forsythe.

With a little break for afternoon work in the cool of the hotel, Michael took me up to Mt. Lofty to see the spread of Adelaide from above and watch a quiet sunset.

Sunday morning Kerry Johnson and her hubbs Paul arranged for an informal tweet up breakfast with Leo Gaggl, his two kids and Annie Ferguson. Coffee, conversation at a relaxed pace was a great topper for my Adelaide visit. Thanks, all!