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.

Some of the Hacking Reality events at the Academy of the Impossible will be recapped at Metaviews.ca alongside other perspectives on the relationship between business, media and technology.

Read all about our first turn at YouTube School.

We're still in the process of getting the Academy up and running, yet we're thrilled with the response we've had from friends and the public. For example Joshua Errett wrote a great article in NOW magazine emphasizing our desire to adapt education for the internet age.

We also had a wonderful first event to kick off our Impossible Ideas series, with Rick Salutin joining us to discuss popular uprisings and protests around the world. Video from that event is now available via YouTube.

There are currently two programs active at the Academy, the Street Writers who meet on Tuesday evenings, and the Hacking Reality program presented by Metaviews, which meets Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons. There are four other programs currently in development, and we have received several other applications for programs that we hope will start in the weeks and months to come. Keep an eye on this site and our events page for updates.

Last night, we filled the space with friends, family, good conversation and inspiring thoughts about the future of our impossible venture. Thanks to everyone who came!

There's footage of the night here and a lovely article by Luke Champion over here on Blogto.

We look forward to officially opening the doors in early January.

To keep in touch with developments, drop us an email, register as a user on this site, or sign up for our email list:

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The Academy of the Impossible is an open source social enterprise. I love that sentence, but what does it mean? Let's break it down.

Open source is a concept that helps define a relationship with transparency and intellectual property.

Open is one of the primary virtues of the internet, an embrace of transparency and the desire to share. The hope that through openness new people and ideas will emerge to make any project better.

Source generally refers to source code, but also implies where you're coming from, and what you use to build your project. It speaks to the role of intellectual property, and in this context the lack of secrecy or exclusivity when it comes to the ideas that are being tested and employed.

A social enterprise is a fusion of non-profit and for-profit business models that leverages the benefits of either entity to achieve a broader social goal.

Social, like open, is a primary virtue of the internet, and speaks to what motivates us, but also where technology and education are best focused. Social metrics and goals define us as an organization above and beyond any economic ones.

Enterprise speaks to the desire to boldly go where others have dared not. To venture into the domain of hope and potential and find a new means of sharing prosperity and discovery.

As an open source social enterprise we mix all sorts of organizational and operational elements that we feel best match our desires to achieve and share the impossible. We embrace transparency, so others may learn and do differently. We want independence and autonomy so will seek multiple revenue sources, focus on sustainability, and have a mixed bottom-line, defining ourselves as a social enterprise.