We will explore local development, learning communities and action research; supporting the analysis with a knowledge base about theory, methodology, techniques, technologies, participatory experiences and participatory policies; resources for local communities and resources for networking local communities. The whole approach is on social learning for local development, learning by doing, experimenting and situated learning, asset based participatory community development, action research as action learning cycles of understanding by doing and reflecting. For those analysis we have go into an multidisciplinary effort,  covering a large array of theories and approaches, trying to put them in some order and given resources to further the study.

We hope that those analysis and resources might be usefull for students, scholars, trainers, practitioners and local communities who cares about the kind of social processes of local development we care about.

The intention of this site is give life and voice to those concepts and listen their conversations, participate in a multidisciplinary effort of reflection about the tools we use and our own practice, facilitating our journey of understanding and actions of local development. You can go alone or as a group, we rather prefer to go as an emergent group willing to become a Community of Practice.

As we care about local communities going collaboratively networked, our community will network itself with other communities, for sharing, social learning and collaborative initiatives. 

We want to be a better community not just for ourselves, but a better community that facilitates others to be the same.

The final result of our community's action research, must be local communities living and enjoying the kind of social process we believe in.

"My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people:
those who work and those who take the credit.
He told me to try to be in the first group;
there was less competition there."  -  Gandhi

"You must be the change you want to see in the world"   -   Gandhi

"You cannot understand a system until you try to change it"   -   Lewin

 
"Local Development, Learning Communities and Action Research"

This page, was initiated by Giorgio Bertini - as an ad-hoc knowledge-base - during the e-Conference on "Communities of Practice and Web 2.0 Technologies" (Jan 2006), organized by CPsquare - the Communities of Practice on Communities of Practice, founded by Etienne Wenger and other practitioners . As the Conference' language was english, it was developed with resources (links) in english, as an introductory multidisciplinary knowledge base (theories, methodologies, techniques, technologies and experiences) to facilitate conversations about:

From that initial version, the site has evolved into a larger one, with content divided in seventeen sections, many of them still under development.
 

• Home - Introduction
  
• Local Development
• Learning Communities
• Action Research
• Theories
  
• Methodologies and Approaches 
• Techniques and Tools 
• Resources for Local Communities 
• Networking Local Communities and Web 2.0 Technologies
  
• Local Development and Action Research - Experiences
• Participatory Local Development Policies - Experiences
  
• Learning  Journeys
  
• Workshops
  
• References
  
• Glossary
• Newsletter
• Contact

Being developed by Giorgio Bertini
Last updated: Mar 13, 2006

LOCAL  DEVELOPMENT

LEARNING COMMUNITIES

Action Research and Experiential Learning   -   K. Lewin

Action Theories   -   C. Argyris and D. Schön

Activity Theory

Actor-Network Theory