VoX WeB: How to get involved in the project

THE VOX WEB MAIN WEBSITE

Contact us at voxwebcontact@gmail.com

The Vox Web project aims to create a decentralised learning web in the Vauxhall area of south London, Britain.

The VoX WeB Facebook group is here.
The VoX WeB Twitter profile is here.
The VoX WeB Meetup group is here.
The VoX WeB YouTube channel is here.

We need help to create and run the VoX WeB. At the moment, we cannot pay any money and are asking for people to provide help on a voluntary basis. The plan is for this to change in the long-term and for the VoX WeB to be established as a not-for-profit project providing sustainable employment. Those people who contribute the most to the project during its voluntary stage will obviously be treated as the first priority when we reach the stage of offering employment.

We have put forward ideas and actions in the following A-Z. Please feel free to undertake any of these tasks. If you do so, and if you have any other ideas for the project, please email us at voxwebcontact@gmail.com.

The image at the top is a representation of the Music Room at Vauxhall Gardens, engraved by H.Roberts in 1752. The link is from Bridgeman Art on Demand.

The image above right is of neurons in the brain, and is from here.

A1. Abaculus Cafe (Proposed community/cyber owned & run south London cafe).
There is currently a vacancy to run a small kiosk cafe in Archbishop's Park, close to Waterloo station, south London. We propose the creation of a cafe that is owned and run by people around the world and in the local area on a similar model as Ebbsfleet football club. People around the world and in the local community can buy small initial stakes in the cafe and then have a democratic say over how it is run. Other inspirations for the idea include Bonnington Cafe in Vauxhall, London, Cafe Creatif in Leicester, the Cafe Project in Cambridge, the CommuniTea project in Liverpool, the Philosophy Cafe in Leeds, the Philosophy Cafe in Cardiff, the Philosophy Cafe in Kingston, and the Pogo Cafe in Hackney in east London.

We currently have a Facebook group set up for this project.
If you could run this project, please email us. We have a copy of "Starting & Running a Coffee Bar" by Gilbert, Martin and Formichelli and a copy of "Starting & Running a Sandwich-Coffee Bar" by Miller to give away free to anybody who can take charge of this project, and will provide continual support along the journey. A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single mouse click.

A2. Alternative Currency (the Vauxhall Pound?)

A localised alternative or complementary currency system would be excellent. There are various inspirations for this, for example the Transition pounds as part of the Transition Towns projects (for instance in Lewes and Totnes) or the complementary currencies of the LETS system. Collaborations with projects such as the Wedge card would also be welcome, as well as with the Brixton Pound, part of the Transition Brixton project, which is due to be launched in September 2009. This could also be part of the Transition Waterloo project (see below). If you are a heterodox banker and would like to engineer this alternative currency, we would love to hear from you.

The picture above is an image of the Anti-Monopoly boardgame, including its Anti-Monopoly banknotes.

B1. Basic Skills

According to the Lambeth council website, the 2007 Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) placed the borough of London as a whole as the fifth most deprived in London and the nineteenth most deprived in England. We propose the provision of basic skills, particularly in literacy and numeracy (as well as financial numeracy) and I.T., particularly to people who are unemployed or in receipt of social security benefits. If possible, this could be organised through volunteering, particularly from recent graduates, though ideally people would be paid properly rather than being employed on a voluntary basis. If you are interested in contributing in this field, or interested in orchestrating the project as a whole (finding ethical sources of funding and linking together teachers and people in the local community), please contact us.

The picture on the right is a reproduction of initials produced by William Morris.

E1. Exchange of local services (V-Bay? VoX-Bay?)
A micro-eBay of sustainable local services and products would be very useful. This could involve a similar feedback system as the eBay kudos system, where people could rate services and reward those that are well organised, and could be created both in cyberspace and on paper. The kudos system could also be linked into the alternative currency and projects such as the Wedge card. To run this project, please email us.

E2. Ethical and sustainable shopping and learning centre at Waterloo station

The former Eurostar terminus in Waterloo station in London is now empty, after the terminus was transferred to St.Pancras in 2007. Let's turn it into a shopping centre involving small, ethical, grassroots businesses in renewable and sustainable goods and services, organsied as far as possible on a microfinance basis and owned as far as possible on a mutualised basis by people in the local community and worldwide. The Facebook group is here. Please join it, and please send your ideas, suggestions, recommendations and proposals to us.

Picture on right: a screenshot from the latest incarnation of the classic computer game Railroad Tycoon by Sid Meier.

F1. Film VoX WeB.

Film VoX WeB is a group dedicated to film production, film screenings, film viewings, film criticism, and film appreciation in Vauxhall, south London, as part of the VoX WeB project. The Facebook group is here and the YouTube channel is here. The group includes the proposed creation of a small and independent cinema at Waterloo station in the long-term, along similar lines as the Art Deco-fronted Waterloo News Theatre (1934-70) designed by Alistair G MacDonald. It also supports the campaign to keep the Cinema Museum alive (run by Martin Heinemann) and help it flourish in the long-term.

If you would like to be involved in this group, please join the Facebook group or contact us.

The picture above is an image from the album "Man with a Movie Camera" by Cinematic Orchestra.

F2. Funding.
If you are able to donate to us, no matter how little, we would be absolutely honoured. Alternatively, if you have any ideas on fundraising, or would like to take charge of organising fundraising for the VoX WeB (possibly in tandem with the Microfinance VoX WeB - see below), please do contact us. If you can help us get funding both through innovative co-operative schemes, and from ethical institutions such as Triodos Bank, then of course you will receive a fair percentage of the money that you raise. In other words, there is a job as a financier waiting for you if you are interested in it, and the scope of the job is entirely dependent on the scope of your vision.

I1. Influx

If you do not already live in the area, why not move here? Alternatively, why not come and visit? It would be lovely to see you. Information on accommodation in the area can be found here.

L1. Language Exchange.
We propose that the local area becomes a hub for language learning, tuition, translation and exchange with contacts with languages organsiations around the world. We have a Facebook group set up entitled London Languages Exchange. If you would like to run this group, with the eventual aim of creating a London Languages Exchange in the local area, please email us. We also have some specific language groups that need to be run, for example Portuguese London, Estudantes Portugueses em Londres, and the London English-Portuguese Language Exchange.

According to the local council, there are approximately 130 languages spoken in the borough of Lambeth as a whole (with Portuguese and Yoruba being the top two, after English, in terms of numbers) so there is plenty of potential.
The picture on the left shows the activation of major brain centres of language during conversation, for example the motor cortex, Broca's area, and Wernicke's area, and is taken from the Cientifica Mente weblog by Isabella Bertelli of the University of Sao Paolo.

L2. Lecture VoX WeB.
We would like to put together a list of people who can provide public lectures (on a myriad of different topics) in the area. If you can run this list, or you would like to be included on it as a lecturer, please send your details to us.

L3. Links.
We are always looking for new people and groups to link to. To be affiliated to the VoX WeB project, and to be linked to the main site (in the category of 'linked individuals', 'linked local organisations' or 'linked national organisations') please email us with your details. Please also feel free to provide links to the VoX WeB project on your own websites.

M1. Microfinance/Microcredit VoX WeB.

We propose the creation of a microfinance scheme in the local area, inspired by examples such as the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh created by Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus or ethical banks and building societies such as Triodos and the Ecology Building Society. Our plan is to create a fund that provides small loans to people setting up sustainable and ethical enterprises locally.

If you can run, engineer, administer and orchestrate this fund, we would love to hear from you.

The picture above is an image of the Ecology Building Society eco-HQ at Silsden in West Yorkshire. The microfinance VoX WeB fund could also be targeted at people with plans for ecologically harmonious architecture.

N1. Newsletter (and e-zine).
We would like to have a newsletter in both printed and computerised format up

and running, with information on the VoX WeB project, the activities going on in the local area, and the various links, connections and collaborations with people and organisations around the world. If you would like to edit, produce, print or write for this newsletter, please send us your contact details and ideas.

The image on the right is an anonymous painting of a London coffee house circa 1700 from the British Museum. The rise of the eighteenth-century coffee houses and journalism were closely connected. The link is from the English Press: Then and Now.

O1. (The) Office.
If you can help us to obtain and organise an office in the Vauxhall area, please contact us. Hopefully it will not be akin to the office of David Brent.

P1. Philosophy Vauxhall
We are setting up a group to discuss and create philosophy, with a plan in the long-term for the creation of a Philosophy Cafe in the area. The Philosophy Vauxhall Facebook group is here. If you can help run this, or would like to join, please email at philosophyvauxhall@gmail.com.

S1. Social Networking Sites.

We currently have a Facebook group set up. Please invite as many of your friends to it as possible. We are also looking for people to administer and run the Facebook group, so please email us if you are interested.
Please also feel free to create a linked VoX WeB presence at any other social networking sites, for example Twitter, Myspace, Bebo and so on, and let us know if you do this so we can link the presence up to our existing sites.

The picture on the right is entitled "Social Networking Sites" and is from here.

T1. Transition Town Waterloo.
As part of the thrivng Transition Towns movement, we propose that the local area has its own Transition group. The Facebook group is here. If you can run the group, please contact us.

V1. Vauxhall Chess Society.

We propose the creation of a chess society in Vauxhall. Our plan is for regular sessions on particular days each month at a major venue such as the Southbank Festival Hall, along with more informal and 'ad hoc' sessions at a number of different venues, from parks to cafes and from libraries to cafes in parks. The Vauxhall Chess Society Facebook group is here. If you can help run it, can provide equipment, or wish to join in and play chess, please get in touch.

The picture above is a chess set made from recycled car parts by Armando Ramirez, giving us the possibility of playing Vauxhall chess in Vauxhall with parts of a former Vauxhall (rather than adding to yet more landfill).

V2. Venue VoX WeB

We are interested in putting together a list of venues locally who wish to be linked to the VoX WeB project. As examples, a list of cafes that can be venues of language lessons or public houses and meeting halls that can host public lectures would be useful. To create this list, or to be included on it, please get in touch.

Z1. ZIZZ Vauxhall (Proposed community/cyber grassroots regeneration, S.London)
We propose that empty, derelict, abandoned and neglected buildings in the Vauxhall area should be developed with sustainable activity that benefits the local community and the wider world and, as far as possible, owned on a local community and global cyber basis and funded through microfinance initiatives. This would then, hopefully, help to create meaningful, fulfilling and secure long-term employment.
We have a Facebook group set up. If you can run this group, please email us. If you can provide information on any empty buildings in the area, or have an idea on what to do with them, please email us. We welcome collaborations with sustainable grassroots regenerators around the world.

The picture above is "Victory Boogie Woogie" by Piet Mondrian, currently on display at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, Netherlands.

Some examples of abandoned, empty, neglected and derelict buildings in the local area are as follows.