Created at Wordle.net Viv McWaters and I chatted with Gil Brenson-Lazan about the role of facilitators in disaster recovery. Gil has 35 years experience in this area and a background in social psychology. He is a co-founder of the Global Facilitators Service Corps (GFSC). You can download the podcast over here at Winkipod. Gil Brenson-Lazan Cheers Geoff

Most people around the world have heard about the recent Victorian Bushfires. For me, and my family and community, it has been a time reflect and morne and also a time to work out what it all means for us. Our community is on the edge of the Otway National Park and is a community at high risk of bushfires. We were just plain ‘lucky’ not to see a fire on Black Saturday. I have been sent a slideshow about a beuatiful garden of sculptures that was lost to the Marysville and fire … some random images and a poem …

I was honored to present a whole bunch of stuff to a group of people in Anglesea the other day. I focused on Clay Shirky’s crowdsourcing, Ken Robinson’s creativity, Seth’s Tribes and a range of online tools. Here’s a direct link to the mindmap I used to plan the session. When you visit Mind42, you will be able to click on the links which take you to various videos, presentations and information. BRWMG Presentation by Geoff Brown – 2009 Mind42 is like a wiki, but in mindmap form. Cheers Geoff

It appears that the recent loss of life, home and community by devastating fires in Victoria has resonated around the world’s media. The images are horrific and the stories of loss and grief are almost unbearable. One person on talkback radio said … “This is the sort of thing you only see happening on the other side of the world, and usually in developing countries”. I am only 1 step removed from many people who have lost everything. My love and support goes to all of them. One such person rang radio today and said, “please don’t label us as …

Victoria, Australia. The weekend that has just passed witnessed some of the most horrific (natural) events in our short history. The toll on human life, wildlife and community infrastructure is still being counted … the numbers of injured and dead keep rising as do the numbers of homes, shops and buildings. I live with my wife and 3 young children in an area of dense bush on the south west coast of Victoria. Again, our National Park was spared. We had no lightening strikes or fire-bugs to get a wildfire started. At some stage in the next decade, our coastal …