E-clubbing or eClubbing is new to Rotary. For some of our members, the ones like me, with decades of going to lunch, take it for granted that showing up is enough.

But we know better, getting involved, participating is where it's at.

Now we're no longer in that terra room. We need to imagine the room we used to go to, where we could all see each other, exchange smiles, handshakes and recognize each other.

The only way we can do that here is with our photos, names, and a howdy.

Meantime, take a moment to say high in the comment after you attend the meeting.

Love the potential of this. (First sent from my cell phone)

Jack  Selway, Founder & CEO of RGHF, Rotary Global History, Pueblo, CO, USA

I sang for a funeral this morning. At the funeral I saw an old friend, from one of the three local clubs. His warm smile, the handshake, the hello are still warm in my memory.

Later today, I got that same feeling writing to one of our senior historians in the UK, a founding member of RGHF in Colorado, and my good friend Joe in Texas. We can wave, smile, and greet each other in cyberspace.

Jack  Selway, Founder & CEO of RGHF, Rotary Global History, Pueblo, CO, USA

                      Up The Rabbit Hole

The further adventures of those looking for fun and magic

Once upon a future next Monday through Friday, in a land very close which could jump borders, time zones and cultures, there began a quest of a few adventurers “up the rabbit hole” of information, fellowship, creative thought and service to a place outside their realms of experience in the castle of the world called the Internet. Each of these experienced knowledge servers have had years of training since they followed the “white rabbit of dreams fulfilled”: down the rabbit hole. They had spent their time with the guru on the mushroom (their mentor, telling them the truths of their chosen universe); some time with the scam artists, the Walrus lecturing the oysters with his servant the Carpenter at his side (while they learned the routine of their business), and too much time with those who thought that sense was the essence of no sense (nonsense some called it), the political twins of Twiddle Dee-Dee and Twiddle Dumb. Of course, they studied those who went before them, like Alice (an earlier version of Paul Harris.) Now, mature in their chosen fields of experience and learning, they began to understand that they had the opportunity to jump up the rabbit hole into the sunlight again.

Of course, with their backgrounds in Wonderland, they brought with them treasures of ideas. They certainly shared those with their fellow employees and their peers. That was part payment for those in Wonderland (mentors and teachers who gave them their learning and experience in their chosen profession) who they could never really repay. So they shared, now, with fellow travelers some of the things that they had learned since they could not ever pay back some who helped them be what they had become. In short, they paid forward to others instead of trying to pay back. 

Their vehicle for this sharing was called “the Forum,” a creative adventure tool established by the Romans and expanded in the 20^th century to increase understanding and fellowship. On this virtual space and time, they helped to work for all the participants in what they labeled “an eClub.” What surprised them all was that sharing ideas was fun; making comments about what others created in their weekly, program writings was rewarding; and so they too wrote about what they loved, the subjects of their hearts, the learning that was now part of their fabric, and the past learning that was “a kind of pay-back-forward.” Up The Rabbit Hole is communication, fellowship and service in the best sense. There is an art to rising up and seeming to fly. When they opened their minds, hearts and knowledge for other adventurers, the “rabbit hole gang” found that they could give something back to their fellow adventurers, to those they communicate with and eventually to future leaders in their “wonderlands of learning,” their eClub and beyond.  The purpose of the forum and the comment section of the weekly programs (where comments are expected) is an opportunity for fellow members to create a forum (an open-ended space in virtual reality) where those who wish to communicate with other members of this “rabbit hole family” can explore any path of the trained mind, explore ideas that may improve the collective thinking,  creative practices in and outside the virtual realm, and show a larger community of Rotary servers the caliber of thought and effort that we, the eClub of the Southwest (and the world) display in our local communities and  much further. By using the Internet we are jumping up the rabbit hole with our efforts because we break down barriers, cultural differences and space/time restricts that normally hold us apart but now pull us together while sharing ideas and images that help all of us grow.

Some may fear this freedom and tend to hide in the warm half-light of a darkening virtual space but that was not the purpose of creating an eClub. Most of our seasoned adventurers in Rotary have lived a life of service already but must now learn a new language, just as Alice has to learn new words for old tunes in Wonderland. We virtually meet every week (our regular scheduled meeting time), while the distances between us stay the same (except like with 18^th and 19^th century letter writing), we move also closer in this virtual fellowship of sharing, communication, participation and tangible, “up the rabbit hole” reality of virtual adventurers.  

“Change is Mandatory. Growth is Optional.” – Anonymous.  “To know is to Grow.” – Joe Kagle 

Or to quote one of the great creative minds of the 20^th century, Dr. Seuss:  

                          “You have brains in your head                            You have feet in your shoes                            You can steer yourself in any direction you choose                            You’re on your own                            And you know what you know                            You are the guy who’ll decide where to go.” 

Up The Rabbit Hole is a way to describe what the use of the Internet of our eClub is trying to achieve: “a lot of effort by the many to share ideas with a few which is multiplied by many more.” 

Therefore, each week, every member of the eClub must give some communication (to substitute for what used to be a luncheon gathering of physical bodies whereas now it is a community of minds and spirits who must share to serve.) One who accepts Rotary as a way to jump “up the rabbit hole” from visions of unfulfilled dreams to the reality of fulfilled service, which only seems like a dream, is a privileged member of a band of servers.

One can write one short sentence as a comment, or compose an essay on an idea (a technique of learning, a process of creativity, an adventure of the mind, a business inquiry, a story that could be used to tell more than it tells) or anything that might stimulate conversation and dialogue between different elements of our Fellowship. You can create anything, a something to stimulate others to add their voices and thoughts. If we each add something every week (one line might do) where our place for comments is used by the many, our eClub will spread like waves in a small pond that just might reach an ocean of comment that brings in voices across the world.  

Please add your wonder to this Wonderland of an eClub by contributing your voice and touch to a virtual body of voices.  It is fun.  Join us and jump up the rabbit hole. Alice (alias Paul Harris) shows us the way. I would not be surprised that he even saw a time when virtual bodies met and virtual communication was used to serve and show others the magic that we have found in Rotary.

I think that I've made my point, but I want to thank Joe, Frank, and president Ryofu for adding to the poll. I've had conversations with board members who do not agree with me, but folks, you really need to know that in cyberspace things are different than on land.

Yes, I realize that having every member stand up, after a land/terra meeting and give a comment makes no sense.

We're not on land, we're in the air.

The first example of Rotary in cyberspace was 75 years ago next month. The 1933 convention in Boston where Harris spoke to "Friend of the Air." This famous speech does not hide him, he is quite open.

http://www.whatpaulharriswrote.org/library/1933.htm

Maybe it would help if everyone listened to his radio appeal, then ask yourself, are you a Rotarian in deed?

Jack  Selway, Founder & CEO of RGHF, Rotary Global History, Pueblo, CO, USA

I don't mind meetings in the same room, virtually...as long as we still have the option to attend the meetings like we do now

By that, do you mean not making any comment at the end of the meeting and being invisible? I can't believe that, you're our most visible member.

Jack  Selway, Founder & CEO of RGHF, Rotary Global History, Pueblo, CO, USA

At the halfway point in our week long meeting:

5 eClub members have left comments, about 11% of our members

50% of those attending have left comments.

Jack  Selway, Founder & CEO of RGHF, Rotary Global History, Pueblo, CO, USA

Perhaps one of the best reasons to post regularly is that it allows us, at a personal level, to reflect on what powerful things are happening in our lives and share those with each other.  The best meetings are those in which stories are enjoyed widely, and so, if something unusual happens, where better to share it than with dedicated eClub members and visitors?

For me, the story starts with an e-mail last week from a contact in the New York office of iEARN, an organization that helps teachers and schools around the world connect for interesting projects. She suggested that there was an interesting opportunity we should talk about the next day.  Pure curiosity certainly wouldn't allow that one to go away, so we arranged the call at the one time I could meet (6:30a my time - yeah!).

She let me know that there was a workshop on digital video and educational exchange for which they needed someone to lead.  I'm into that, so I said that I'd certainly be interested.  I followed that with, "Where is the workshop?"  "Bahrain," she replied.  I managed a, "Really?"

The idea of going somewhere I've never been is, shall we say, a motivating one, so I could feel myself getting jazzed with the thought of visiting the Middle East.  "When is it?"  At that point, I was hoping for early August, as I know I have some time then.  She replied that it starts June 10th.  "Of this year?" I asked.  "Yes.  Oh, and we want you to bring two students."

Several encouragingly positive conversations later with people at my school and district, and then with the parents of two of my wonderful teens (choosing was wickedly difficult), and we're scheduled to head out on June 7th.  Fun, no?

Sometimes, something happens that is so fun that you just have to share it, so consider yourself one who has wandered too close to my good mood!  I hope we each have had a pleasant surprise or two sometime in the last week.  We can even engineer a pleasant surprise for someone else!  Not a bad thing for Rotarians to do, I figure.

Rushton 

Rushton, "What marvelous news." I am so glad that you shared it with us. There is a unique joy in stepping out of your comfort zone. You are approaching this in the right way: as an adventure instead of a project filled with an element of fear. Of course, there is a little unease. When visiting a foreign country, you are the foreignor and that sets us up for unease. But even that unease is normal. Going into a different part of a city where you were born can cause that (here in the USA.) But Bahrain is governed by the new equalizer: money. There are no borders for money and ideas and knowledge. You obviously have knowledge or you would not have been asked to come. I know the feeling.

You might, to help you mentally prepare, go to my website: www.wacoart.com, to the essays there. I have put in my daily report when I went to the Republic of Georgia for the first time in 2001-2002 on a Fulbright grant. It is called American Supra. I think that Mongolia is there also in 2004.

The Middle East is like the Internet; a land that is not HERE. Your magic carpet will be your open attitude when you go. For a while you will be in the air until you find that people are people, students are students, families are families and human beings are human (even when they speak differently, look a little different and have different ways to cope with what we all come up against.) Have a marvelous adventure. Tell us about it as it happens or when you get back. The new motto for Rotary is "Rotary Shares." Have a great time and thank you for sharing this news.

Joe

I just finished reading Joe's article about his time in Mongolia several years ago (find it at: http://www.wacoart.com/writings/part5viewFromAbroad.htm), and very much enjoyed the chance to step into the thoughts of someone in such a different place in a completely different time. Writing has always provided this opportunity, but the ease with which we can share our hopes and concerns has truly created a different world for us all, especially those determined to make the changing world a better place - Rotarians.

From the page: "At another occasion, our talks centered on why the Mongolians had survived with their culture in place after the occupation of the Chinese and the Russians. My friend was cryptic: “We are a nomadic people in fact and spirit. If you own little of outside possessions but value much in spiritual, inside life (Mongolia is 96% Buddhist), what can a conquering nation take from you?”"

Given how common it is for Rotary to be a place mainly for the materially wealthy, this paragraph had special impact for me. Coming on the heels of attending this week's meeting about the colonias, it was all the more powerful a reminder of what Rotary might be for creating hope and opportunity from the inside of such communities!

I am considering the possibility of making regular Twitter posts while on this trip of mine to Bahrain (see my post above, or, if reading this from elsewhere, on http://www.recswusa.org/viewthread/1995/Willing_to_be_seen_and_heard). Friends of mine in the educational technology community have been raving about Twitter for some time, though admittedly I've thought of it as a time black hole with only limited value (http://www.twitter.com). A recent posting in another group I am in pointed me to the best explanation of the tool I'd seen yet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o). It may be that something like Twitter can enhance an eRotarian's experience.

Let's keep the conversation going!

We have some new members who may appreciate the value of being seen and heard. We are not are not the usual chat group, and in Rotary, it really handy to know who is speaking, what they look like and their first and last names.

This is from our own website:

SETTING UP YOUR PROFILE
Click on "My Account" there are several areas where you can "edit" material.

Edit My
» Blog Page
» Profile
» Children
» My Settings
» Photo Gallery

These are the sections where you can add material.

Click on profile and answer all the questions and save where ever there is a "save" notice. Each section of questions needs to be saved. If you check the boxes above the information, then that data will not appear.

Click on "My Settings" and fill in your signature, add a photo, add other details as you wish, add a second photo near the bottom. It can be the same photo as above.

If you have a photo on your computer, you can browse to that file and then upload it.

Also look for "online handle" and enter your first and last names to assist others in getting to know who you are:

Account Details

Items marked with an asterisk(*) are still required for your account profile.
First Name: *
Last Name: *
Screen Name: xxxxxxxxx (Can't be changed)
Online Handle: [here you can enter your first & last name]

Yours in Rotary Service,
Jack Selway ceo@rghf.org

Jack  Selway, Founder & CEO of RGHF, Rotary Global History, Pueblo, CO, USA

I totally missed this reply earlier.  Better late than never. 

What I meant by my post - is the ability to attend the meetings at a time that works for me.  My schedule can sometimes be a little nutso.   

I think everyone should post comments and other postings on the forums.  It is important.