Well, the night of the 12th went down very well, in fact it has generated a really positive response of support for the project.  Thanks to Paul Bruce, creator of the Edinburgh Short Film Festival, we managed to have a night of film and exploring if we could viably thread short talks amongst the films.  Well it happened, cinema and talks go quite well together.  A special thanks to Jack the technician for making sure it all happened smoothly and without hitch.  As a pilot night it proved that it could be done and over 140 people came to see the whole evening on the sunny shore of Leith.

Also it was good to have such a clutch of interesting people so driven in their work – Jamie Cooke who seems to be on a mission to accelerate the RSA to its historic heights again, Antonella Sorace who is searching every means possible to help people learn new languages and understand the neural benefits through Bilingualism Matters, Steve Tilley who is a champion of unheard voices of Mad Peoples History and also Kirsten McClean giving a passionate voice about advocacy.  I was pleased to see interesting cross-conversations developed.

Luke Woodbridge has location recorded the talks so that they can go on the internet for anyone who wanted to hear the talks but could not make it.  This is a great step forward considering what can be done with podcasting these days.  Ragged podcasts are definitely to come more often as we can sort out the equipment.  It will be fun to experiment with technology such as film and audio recording.  With average machinery these days pretty impressive results can be achieved.  Thanks to Joe Cranwell, the talks have been filmed as well, so we hope to get these online soon.

So what’s in store for the project ?  Plenty is on the horizon; there is an invitation to start it up in London again, also some interest from Preston, but just now I think that a heads down attitude of documenting the last two and a half years of the collective efforts which took the Ragged project to where it is today.  Also catching up with many of the previous speakers and maybe podcasting them so that everyone can get the benefit of their interest.  At the moment there is much effort in trying to meet the conditions to achieve charitable status and thinking it through thoroughly is definitely on the cards.

The Ragged University is a concept more than anything else – Everybody is a Ragged University – tries to encapsulate the idea.  Each person is a university is a membership of one and is a unique body of knowledge accredited to that individual.  The only way to find out about that knowledge is to listen, and this is best done under social circumstances

 

This is informal.  It does not involve awarding accreditation, it is about appreciating what is people have spent their hours on.  It is a space to meet other interested, interesting people, with no set curriculum; just what people bring to the table – what people are happy to share.  It is not something which I want to analyse who comes or force the project into a bureaucratically measurable shape – this might formalise something which is best left alone.

Also, on this note, the Ragged events are not something which will ever be monetised.  This is a thought which is different to what is being done here.  Thanks for all the advice in this age of ‘social entrepreneurialism’, but to keep it simple and clean the general Ragged events will not handle cash nor cost anything to attend.  Any trimmings which can be put on will be. It is good to have people come together around food and conversation.

With all these thoughts in mind, discussions carry on as to the benefits of registering as a charity. If this project were to want to propagate out, would the same funding possibilities be open to such an organisation ?  Who knows ?  It is by the sheer generosity of giving in kind that so many real time events have happened across the country and a functioning website has been maintained over this time.  Watch this space for launching on We Fund

 

It is now time to get some extra hands involved on the voluntary coordinator side so that the back boiler stuff can be done like put all the 86 gigs of events film footage up on Youtube as well as put the podcasts up in Soundcloud.  If anyone wishes they could help but don’t have the time, even going on Facebook and liking the page, joining the group, following on Twitter, or suggesting to someone who is interested in the events that their email goes on the mailing list.

On the mailing list front, to clarify – No details will ever be passed on to any third parties.  It is a once monthly email highlighting a free event which anyone can attend and a great free knowledge resource on the internet.  The aim is to put on an event once a month on a regular basis, so it is just our newsletter.