Plain and simple, Ragged University events are about individuals sharing their passion and skills with other individuals, not about individuals promoting a group or organisation…who else you connect with is inherent in your story.

 

This needs continually restated so that the project does not become a platform for marketing.  In an age of ad nauseum advertising, personal and humanised spaces have been increasingly lost and turned into monetized spaces which feed into an agenda removed from that of interpersonal relationships and non-profit driven communities.  Ragged is partly about reclaiming this ground.

 

What is important is the exchange of knowledge and the presentation of why this knowledge excites you, and enjoying learning through teaching and the benefits of getting involved in a mix of peers.

 

For example, although I (Alex Dunedin) am the primary coordinator (janitor) of the Ragged project, I chose to talk about the history of the Ragged Schools, which inspires me – rather than about the Ragged project and why people should support it.  The difference is from presenting the organisation as a project and the history of free education as valuable, in and of itself, as public knowledge.

 

The aim is to build interpersonal relationships through learning events where people own their own experience, and share it in constructive ways.  Doing a talk is to be thought of in terms of why you love your subject rather than defining yourself by an organisation or group.  People will find out through talking to with you what organisations and groups you have invested your time in. These talks are about individuals and not groups – I can’t say this too often…