Blogs

April is National Contribution Month at Wikipedia.

A #LocalFood Workshop + Dinner Series for Foodies, Urbanists, Artists, Community & Cultural Workers, Culinary Students, Chefs, Curious Residents & Urban Flaneurs.

#YumTO is a media literacy community project that will meaningfully engage participants in considering how the Bloordale neighbourhood eats.

Facilitated by artists Rea McNamara and Eugenio Salas — both of whom have a background in media justice and community-building projects — this real-time, IRL participatory experience will involve hashtag-driven media content creation tutorials, cooking, interactive storytelling and breaking bread.

Why #YumTO? Community. Food. Change. If you are interested in building community around food using new media tools, this is for you:

• Break bread with the farmers, elders and chefs from Bloordale and its 100-mile diet
• Learn how to cook fabulous, seasonal local meals & dishes
• Create compelling interactive storytelling using words, images and audio derived from sensory-rich IRL experiences
• Get educated on the right hashtag-driven social content creation tools to better promote the important themes, stories and issues around food
• Gain an in-depth understanding in effective community-building and outreach strategies that will help sustain the vibrant communities you care about

Wednesdays, 7-9pm
March 20 - April 3
The Academy of Impossible (231 Wallace Avenue)
$125/person (cost includes food, drink and DIY community-building tool kit)

Space is limited! Register now.

By Suzanne L. Cook
I attended Jesse Hirsh’s Getting Paid in the Knowledge Economy because I was curious to hear how Jesse had developed his business and the strategies he used to make it successful. In this multi-day workshop, Jesse created an informal environment where, as workshop participants, we were all invited to share and discuss our interests, work experiences and ideas. There were many interesting stories from the talented and gifted individuals in the room who were also attending the workshop.

I learned a lot of tips and ideas that are helping me to hone and rethink my business strategy, yet I also saw the power of inter-generational mentorship at work where individuals of all ages shared and informed, taught and learned from each other. The energy and excitement were palpable. The experience was pure inspirational magic.

Many Knowledge Professionals could be doing a better job selling their services, presenting the value they bring and tapping into the economy so they can be paid for their expertise. What do Knowledge Professionals need to know in today’s economy and market?

This interview is a great example of the knowledge we generate at the Thursday night Hacking Reality salons:

My name is Seb FoxAllen. I am a public servant with a communications background who has been involved in the Academy of the Impossible since its grand opening last January. Ahead of a new thrust of programming coming this fall, I was asked to share a few of my experiences.

I first heard of the Academy on Twitter and, having met Jesse sporadically at various events across the city, thought it worth checking out. I strolled into my first session unsure what to expect, perhaps hoping to learn a bit about the bowels of the internet or talk a little politics. Since then, I have laughed and sparred with MPs and city councilors, mercilessly critiqued upstart products and technologies, taken an active role in shaping Campaign School programming, begun producing and co-hosting a weekly political podcast, and made friends of vibrant academics, comedians, journalists, writers, broadcasters, activists, and artists.

So what is the Academy of the Impossible? For those of us who pass though the space on a regular basis, the question can be somewhat challenging. "Is it a school?" people ask. Err, kind of. "An event space?" Often. "A community centre?" Somewhat. “A think-tank?” Maybe.

At its core, the Academy of the Impossible is an incubator for literacy. Technological literacy. Media literacy. Physical literacy. Critical literacy. Structural literacy. Persuasive literacy.

It is a workshop filled with technological, human, and conceptual tools that allow for the construction or deconstruction of ideas. If you choose to leverage these resources for a specific goal or product, you can work as fast or as slow as you wish, start as big or as small as you like, and share your outcomes with others or celebrate them privately. If you prefer to occupy a less ambitious role, you become a useful tool for others, informing the genesis of their own pets and passions.

“A new academy where young people can learn from and network with professionals from a variety of fields.”—Lily Ames, CBC Radio segment

“It's radical, in the sense of transformative, yet conservative, in the sense of preservative. And it worked.”—Rick Salutin, Toronto Star

“Part community centre, part alternative school, the Academy of the Impossible offers its students a DIY education.”—Stephen Spencer Davis, The Grid

“Learning in this school is just like on the internet, where bits of data are exchanged peer-to-peer.”—Joshua Errett, Now Magazine

“The impossible dream — like that recurring one where you’re a skilled hacker who not only knows how to kick some serious butt, but can also throw down some killer beats — isn’t all that far from reality when you’re a student at Parkdale’s Academy of the Impossible.”—Brianne Hogan, Post City

My work at the University of Toronto includes being a lecturer in the Adult Education and Community Development program and a researcher with the Social Economy Centre. The courses that I teach are influenced by my research interest in technology, particularly online environments. This makes me something of a queer duck in my program...welcome, appreciated, but not fully understood.

Along comes The Academy of the Impossible as well as Metaviews, where I do some consultation. In less than a couple of months I have been exposed and have participated in events that not only address my interest in technology, but also stimulate my thinking in adult education and community development. I have used videos and discussions in YouTube School to inform my teaching about media and nonprofits. The Campaign School has been an opportunity to reflect on policy development for the social economy as well as grass roots community development. The interview with Rick Salutin in the Hacking Reality series was an opportunity to remember the importance of social movement learning in adult education. Testing the Impossible gives me a peek at what may be in store for the tech society.

Along with the Metaviews teleseminars, these experiences give me the opportunity to learn and deconstruct the socio-technological moment that we are now experiencing. My professional and personal lens is expanding. The Academy of the Impossible is a living example of adult education and community development.

This past week our programming committee met for the first time and it was a joyous occasion to reflect on how far we’ve come in such a short time. A number of great programs have been submitted. Expect to see them appear on the calendar in the near future.

Lily Ames produced a segment on the Academy for CBC Radio. In the piece Emily describes achieving the impossible as involving a lot of small steps.

The emergence of the Academy of the Impossible is not an isolated event, but rather part of the larger rise of “maker culture”.

For example there are already similar spaces in Toronto, in Ontario, in Canada, and around the world.