The Work of Bridging

Community Bridging

Tommy explaining the Shell Fish research thus far and the shellfish gift from the Banks islanders to the Tualip community https://www.dropbox.com/s/mheu6agq9ofofx8/Shellfish%20(Tom).mov?dl=0

This gives the context to the activities coordinated by Further Arts (and also involving work with TEKS, Leweton, and Wantok Musik - with financial support from the Traditions Foundation, The Christensen Fund and Wantok Musik) contributing to a revival of interest in the production of shell money, which is mirrored by international interest in the relationship between traditional/local currencies and crypto-technologies such as blockchain.

The project has roots in real community practice in Vanuatu and the bringing together of relationship between communities and this underpins the creative development. Vital to acknowledging this we need to find some support for a small group of people from Gaua to attend the Dung Verei Festival which is to be held in conjunction with TORBA Day (Oct 1-2). Funding would be received and administered by Further Arts, in Vanuatu, and acquitted to donors within 3 months of the completion of the activities. The Dung Verei Festival is intended to be a platform for the performance of traditional customary activities known locally as kastom) including music, dance, food preparation, etc. The funding will support the inclusion of a small group of people from Gaua interested in continuing the revival of shell money production. This will be an opportunity for them not only to demonstrate their own practices, and to engage with communities from the more remote island of Ureparapara - custodians of a slightly different lineage of shell money production - as well as others from Vanua Lava, and Mota Lava.

As per Delly’s research findings from the project last year, there is also a continuing practice of shell money production in the Solomon Islands - and intriguingly, there are kinship connections between the Gaua community and the Solomon Islands community (as confirmed by Chief Polwyn). There is a strong sense that any catalysing workshops planned should involve a delegation from the Solomon Islands also.

So the first bridging to focus on is at this local level and the need to find funding to cover international flights from the Solomon Islands to Vanuatu for a Solo delegation. Invitations have also been sent to the Tualip community and to WISN inviting them to come to the Banks Islands in Vanuatu.

Online Bridging

There is so much thinking yet to do defining the Cascade system and the kind of works of bridging, community management. No system that exists to empower indigenous culture can exist without clear guidelines, relationships and trust. The work of translation and communication and stewarding the sharing of communication will require funds and jobs. We will grow through the expertise in the network and further links with Universities, research centres, technology companies with aligned values and art organisations.

Design

Technological expertise, research and design, experience design are clear needs to truly delve into how the system will store information and the system's architecture towards creating an explorable and linked archive of shared materials, leveraging the power of metadata and networks of information nodes linked using hypertext.

There are questions around alternative digital currency and the possibility of creation of value for the people of Vanuatu through developing creative artefacts within the Cascade.Network. How the system can be designed so that the creation of value can improve islanders lives, creative expression and open up access to vital services. There are questions on consensus - and if this can be wedded to nature via an oracle within a smart contract - eg. Tsunami conditions, richter scale tremors, sea level etc.

Thinking towards a system which enables open cultural transmissions from communities and creates new value for the originator whilst creating as little damage to the environment as possible. The cultural transmission receives validation via consensus (peers & nature) within the cascade.network resulting in the appearance of symbols of value. That value is instantiated into existing once it's quality has been validated through the network and that value is distributed back to the islanders. At the creation point - ie. the sharing of culture - the creation process is recorded on the blockchain (video or alternative form of communication) along with the value that has been distributed and the names of the witnesses to the process. This ensures the system conveys living cultural transmissions that have been shared socially, whilst opening culture up to a wider audience who may benefit and with effects of creating cultural visibility, strength as well as value that can translate to resources. The involvement of creative originators create transmissions that unlock additional rewards such as new areas of the cascade network where elders of the community share direct wisdom. It is vital that what is shared is owned by those living on the islands with the aim that group consciousness can start to communicate and represent aspects of the accumulated culture of the tribe over time.

We have been looking at Faircoin - Ethics & Co-op focus + a development community that persists over time to support improvements in the underlying infrastructure. And also at the possibility of storing Faircoin and then establishing them within Stellar. Stellar has ecological care built into it and useful functions - anchor concept & trustlines & the algorithms have been designed to have very low impact on the world. It originated and spread first in the Pacific. https://www.stellar.org/developers/guides/concepts/assets.html

Group Identity / Island Identity

There are many questions of how to develop the technology aspects. Questions about whether we can use Universal coin like Faircoin & questions of underpinning ethics, assumptions and fees of Stellar & technology culture itself. There are questions on whether the system needs to preserve anonymity of individuals, while validating the group structure with ring signatures and advanced cryptography, or encourage the expression of identity.

It is complex emerging terrain and our approach is to work at the local relationships and towards workshops at the HIVE Brighton in September. During this time we can take the lean startup model and apply it to the system design building several quick prototypes containing some sparse features and run some hypothesis testing against it. Workshops at Balance Unbalance and TORBA day in October would help narrow down on a final choice.

The idea for the network is not to be bound to Vanuatu. We want to create a network open to support use and fruitful adaption by diverse communities. The involvement of communities at every step of development is vital.

Accessibility

There's serious questions about the accessibility of vaults and wallets to engage with the system that's designed.

Amanda Watson wrote in 2015 that "many in Melanesia and elsewhere in the Pacific won't be using mobile phone apps any time soon. Typically, they live in an area with only 2G coverage, which is not sufficient to be able to use apps, access the internet and email, or log in to social media. They usually own or have access to only a basic mobile phone handset. They do not have easy, regular access to electricity, so re-charging is a chore. The cost of re-charging is an additional burden when many already find it difficult to afford mobile phones. For these reasons and others (technological literacy, English proficiency, the cultural appropriateness and relevance of available apps), daily use of apps is likely to be a long way off for most Melanesians. One exception is the small number of Facebook users – Facebook is primarily accessed through an app or icon on a mobile phone rather than using a computer.

Drinking Money and Pulling Women: Mobile Phone Talk, Gender, and Agency in Vanuatu This is an interesting ethnographic study from rural Vanuatu. The ethnography presented here suggests that, while mobile phones themselves certainly provide a useful tool for furthering positive social change, such as in the empowerment of women, the meanings and narratives that surround them may by marked contrast entail more negative entrenchments of unequal relations of power.

Governance and Climate Mitigation

In 2016, the Ministry of Climate Change Adaptation in Vanuatu requested Green Climate Fund Readiness Support. Implementation began in 2017 and consists of two distinctive work programmes: (1) The strengthening of the National Designated Authority (NDA), and (2) the development of a strategic engagement framework with the fund, referred to as the Country Programme. The Country Programme will form the basis for Vanuatu’s continuous strategic engagement with the GCF.

The objective of the Green Climate Fund Readiness programme is to put Vanuatu and its National Designated Authority (NDA) on a path towards enhanced engagement with the Green Climate fund (GCF) and to improve its ownership and governance of climate finance in order to better address the real impacts of those most vulnerable to climate change.

Funding sources and potential partners are detailed through Vanuatu’s National Advisory Board on Climate Change & Disaster Risk reduction (NAB). NAB is the supreme policy making and advisory body for all disaster risk reduction and climate change programs, projects, initiatives and activities.

Closer to the grassroots level, there is also an emergent network of organisations clustered around the Vanautu Indigenous Land Defense Desk Alliance (VILDDA). These organisations are all engaged in some form or another of resistance to what they perceive as threats brought against biocultural diversity which undermine Melanesian sovereignty. VILDDA is also closely affiliated with the Melanesian Indigenous Land Defense Alliance (MILDA). "MILDA is an alliance of groups and individuals with a shared vision and commitment to working together united by a common cause to protect our indigenous land extending from the surface of the ground to the centre of the earth and underneath the sea, including our ecosystems, biodiversity, intangible cultural heritage, the waters of our rivers, streams and air. Our members comprise church and traditional leaders, fieldworkers, community members including men, women, youths, children and people with special needs, academics, regional NGOs and international supporters."

The ideas underpinning the work of MILDA, VILDDA and the broader grassroots network are perhaps best encapsulated in what has become known as the The Lelepa Declaration 2014: The declaration of the 3rd meeting of the Melanesian Indigenous Land Defence Alliance (MILDA), held at Natapao Village on the island of Lelepa, Vanuatu, 10-11 March 2014

Communication

The aim is to make learning and wisdom transmission compelling through an online immersive portal that is underpinned by an alternative currency embedded in ecological design. The project will need to be communicated, both on the islands and across the world. It needs a dedicated communications and social media strategy. And our live art strategy uses Domes and VR with the 360 content as a creative tourable experience that spreads news and engagement with the project. Potentially this could involve the Women's Water Music group of Leweton.

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