Crowddreaming

From Wikipedia:

Crowdsourcing is a sourcing model in which individuals or organizations obtain goods and services, including ideas and finances, from a large, relatively open and often rapidly-evolving group of internet users; it divides work between participants to achieve a cumulative result.

Advantages of using crowdsourcing may include improved costs, speed, quality, flexibility, scalability, or diversity.

From Wikipedia, again:

Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance.

It didn't take long for the world of economics and finance to figure out how to use the power of networking to generate new ways of getting cheap work or raising money. There is, however, another important goal to which to apply the disruptive potential for social innovation of network processes, other than improving economic efficiency: to imagine a better future in which to live. From this intuition five years ago the idea of ​​"Crowddreaming", or Teaching the Connective Mind to Dreamscape Future, was born.

About this handbook

This handbook was born from the need to systematize a set of intuitions, ideas, practices and experiences developed during the first four editions of the "Crowddreaming: i giovani co-creano cultura digitale" challenge, organized and managed in Italy by the Stati Generali dell'Innovazione association for the Digital Cultural Heritage, Arts and Humanities School network. This English version is a specific adaptation for the "Crowddreaming: Youth co-create Digital Culture" Erasmus+ project, funded by EU to upscale the good practice of the "Crowddreaming: i giovani co-creano cultura digitale" challenge to an European level.

The "Crowddreaming: i giovani co-creano cultura digitale" challenge arose from the effort to search for an answer to the following question: "How can educators help young people to face the epochal challenge of passing on their predominantly digital culture?"

The use of the "epochal" adjective is absolutely not out of place. Digital technologies are a very recent invention of our contemporary age. They are transforming every aspect of our world's society, culture and economy at an unprecedented speed. Such transformation has been undermining the analytical paradigm that dominated our society's culture for more than three centuries up to today.

So far, this exploratory research has generated four editions of the challenge in Italy, and several updates of the "Art of Crowddreaming" operating method. The challenge has been designed and managed by applying such method, and it is inspired by the criteria of the stigmergic paradigm.

Purpose of this handbook

This document is an instruction manual for the application of the The Art of Crowddreaming method. It starts from the illustration of the principles that inspire the method, continues with the brief description of some successful application cases, and ends with a detailed example of application for the Europa Square Challenge within the "Crowddreaming: Youth co-create Digital Culture" Erasmus+ project.

Therefore, this document describes:

• The stigmergic paradigm;

• "The Art of Crowddreaming" operating method and some tools to engage young people in the co-creation of digital culture;

• The "Digital Monument" conceptual framework;

• A few good practices;

• The operational framework to transfer the good practice of the "Crowddreaming: young people co-create digital culture" contest to the countries participating in the "Crowddreaming Digital Culture" project.

• A detailed example of application of the method to the Europa Square Challenge.