About Ed
Here is how to contact me:
ed [at] edmitchell [dot] co [dot] uk
+44 (0) 7974 737 254
I am an organisational community consultant and group facilitator.
Ed was 100% dependable, put 100% of the heart and brain into the projects, and was great at all phases; from planning to the detailed preparations to the action itself. He responded always: very rapidly, and more importantly – with good results, and even more importantly – always with good spirit like a social magician, spreading the good spirit of collaboration, fun and creativity around to all involved…”
(Ron Dvir, KnowledgeBoard Events partner, Isreal, 2006)
Things I am and do:
- Absolutely passionate about communities
- Strategic planning processes for organisations considering engagement networks
- Practical preparation workshops for sustainable organisational communities
- Blended (physical and virtual) facilitation for communities focused on shared engagement goals and collaboration opportunities for all stakeholders
- Training and mentorship for new facilitators
- Event planning, design and delivery for large or small groups
- Powerful copy writing and community content re-purposing for different media
- Regularly publish own case studies (cc licence) and speak at conferences
Who I do it with:
This ranges from international membership associations and NGOs wanting to offer constructive engagement and professional networking, governance discussion and knowledge sharing spaces, to local voluntary groups who simply want to have regular group meetings where they share their know-how about stuff and then go to the pub.
Current work:
I am working freelance on a range of projects which you can read about on the projects page of this site
From 2004 to 2006 I was Editor on the EC research network: KnowledgeBoard.
KnowledgeBoard was the largest Knowledge Managment community in the world with nine different language zones, twenty international Communities of Practice, 35 voluntary editors, a massive collection of research papers from members and peer-reviewed journals, and over forty virtual and physical events during my time there.
As well as maintaining equilibrium for 13,000 members on the website and in the physical world, I launched a highly experimental and successful series of events and research opportunities called Contactivity. I was also deeply involved in the publication of KnowledgeBoard’s first community book which was free and full of members’ real world KM case studies. I worked with the KB partners on a new thread of CoP research, which we workshopped and presented at different on and offline gatherings.
Previous work experience:
UpMyStreet.com Production Manager: March 2001 until July 2002
OxbridgeJobs Editorial Producer: July 2000 until February 2001
OTM Brand Internet Project Manager: August 1998 until June 2000
GaiaLive Website and broadcast studio manager: June 1997 until December 1997
I have been working in and around the internet since 1997 when I began by helping set up a community music webcasting outfit in a warehouse in Hackney, London. I am not a wildly technical person but think it is great what we can do with computers, as long as we think about it first and draw on our wide range of human experiences and intelligence before rushing headlong into software ’solutions’.
I have a particular fondness for working on ‘events’ of all natures - from virtual problem solving workshops to physical festivals. You can learn a huge amount about teamwork, collaboration, knowledge, management, communication and dispute resolution (not forgetting complex systems and emergence) by putting up marquees in the rain in a field to a ridiculously tight deadline!
Other stuff I have done: Papers, events etc:
KnowledgeBoard community book II: Hands-On Knowledge Co-Creation and Sharing: Practical Methods and Techniques. I am currently co-authoring a chapter with Ron Dvir (my event partner while I was editing KB) for the next KnowledgeBoard book about our experimental event series, Contactivity.
Supporting mixed mode facilitation: 30 November 2006 (.doc)
Paper I co-wrote with Dan Dixon (Senior Lecturer, University of West England) about building trust in knowledge sharing communities by understanding the emergent concept of mixed-mode facilitation. To support our presentation at The Online Information conference.
KnowledgeBoard community book of KM case studies: April 2006
I was very proud to be part of the team behind the KnowledgeBoard community book, lead by Dr Sami Kazi and Dr Patricia Wolf. The freely downloadable book is practical real world KM case studies from our members. Brilliant.
Contactivity event: 10/11 April 2006
Experimental two day KM conference I ran with the KnowledgeBoard events and content teams at Greenwich University.
KM Fringe event: KC Europe 7/8 November 2005
KM Fringe track I ran with the KnowledgeBoard events team at KC Europe. We were given an entire two day track at this famous international KM conference to experiment with member-led workshops drawn from our community.
Learning from eachother: Online and face to face Communities of Practice (.pdf)
Paper I wrote with Dr Sami Kazi and Dr Patricia Wolf for the eChallenges conference 2005
