Progress happens through a combination of physical learning, demonstration, remaining within role and scoring in the metrix system.  People bank hours of their time to be used at the workshops, with payback being in the form of other people’s hours to work on aspects of their personal projects.  Solo work has no multiplier, but each person will need to spend time knowing his or her field and sharpening his or her skill set.  This is where the level comes into play – it is an indicator of performance level.

          An individual may be at different levels of development in different areas of the grid.  The interpersonal bonding within groups can be paralleled to small molecule chemistry.  The elements Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen and Carbon combine in many ways to create different organic structures. The size of a stable group depends on the electron configuration – the ability of people to function as groups depends on remaining within a sea of commonality.  Group theory holds no matter what type of group you happen to be working with.

Some of the tasks will require multiple approaches.  Generating and storing energy will focus on the combination of alternative energies available at the location.  The options might include photovoltaic solar panels, wind power, micro-hydroelectric or geothermal to generate electrical energy.  Storing potential energy for later use as kinetic energy might require developing new materials, such as eutectic salts, combination electrodes, batteries and other novel devices.  The depth of approach may be simple or complex. 

Knowing the working team is a matter of living and working with the people in home community.  When the community sends people to a workshop, expect them to learn methods and techniques to bring home and implement another POD project.  Workshops teach new skills and deepen theme capacity.  Each workshop is designed to create a POD that can be duplicated back at home to provide additional community resource.  Each community differs in approach, so the combination of bringing people together and mixing approaches has a powerful impact on increasing and accelerating common knowledge.

To initiate the game, we request that eight different existing groups provide two players that loosely fit into one of the theme and one of the skill set areas.  Each player here would start with a generic hour card at the same grid level.  These hour cards can be set onto the grid of sixteen and an algorithm generated to produce two working groups of eight or four working groups of four.

The assignments for the group could be to generate the logistics for the first set of POD workshops.  Each workshop would have a goal, building a composting toilet or cast a stave or assemble a raised garden bed.  The group would be at liberty to choose materials and arrange for the proper skill sets and themes to be represented.  They would set the time frame, outline the specifics, select the speakers and see that the materials were in place for the workshop.

The hour cards reflect the ability demonstrated by each individual through their participation at the workshop.  A new hour card would be issued after completion of the training.  The level of ability is a reflection of the home community.  Participants would be expected to duplicate the workshop and implement the goals at their home site.  The hours spent would be reported through a scribe who could use metric multipliers to generate scores that reflect the degree of community participation.

People who have expertise in a specific area will run the workshops in their area, with the support of other sovereigns in the system.  They would set the metrix for the scoring of the event and choose the skill sets necessary for the event grid of 64.  The goal is to develop a learning network that extends through numerous intentional communities that provides a common support network and uses economy of scale to diffuse both costs and individual workloads.  We develop POD modules that work for each community, and that can be readily duplicated in other communities. 

The concepts will be developed within active living communities, where covering basic necessities is a goal toward developing harmonic livability with respect for Gaia.  This is a plan to reformulate education on a functional basis, such that people share common values, generate materials that meet living needs and provide a surplus for economic exchange.  Community based on people enjoying their time together and providing service to each other should help improve parameters of good earth stewardship.

Understand that there will be disagreement on the variety of approaches and mechanisms.  Having multiple approaches to a single task build up a redundancy of function that allows better response to changing conditions.  The combinations of skill and theme within each individual can be blended throughout the system based on personality type and numerological compatibility, such that people within communities build together with common values.  This allows for separate communities to have different values.  The spirit of harmony arises when individuals are valued for their real contribution and feel they are rewarded for making a difference.

What is an hour card? 

The hour card provides exchange media for getting work accomplished.  Keeping track of the hours spent developing themes and skills provide measurement of effort placed towards a task.  The workshops are a demonstration of ability in specific focus areas.  The system of scoring group participation gives an additional means for evaluation.  Hour cards can be bartered for materials, training or labor.  Each card describes the skill and themes of an individual, while providing a register of formal workshops and development projects.  Proficiency sets the exchange ratio, where people can leverage their knowledge to acquire manpower to implement workshop tasks. The hour card provides a picture and description of a person and their capabilities. 

In our concept of sovereignty, we needed a mechanism by which the amount of time that is spent teaching a concept can be rewarded with work effort in support of that topic.  If people at a workshop are willing to spend their own time working to enhance their knowledge, they can be rewarded for the time spent on that effort.  The person teaching the course has projects to be developed in that area and should be able to use help, thus the exchange of hour of time rather than money is a winning situation for both parties involved, and has the benefit of being an in-kind exchange with no monetary flow, thus no tax burden.  A novice needs to spend those hours in practice to really learn the material.

Since most people that attend workshops have no means of follow through to develop the skills learned from that workshop, this method encourages people to develop their skill sets.  Once they have achieved mastery, by completing a demonstration project, then their coding on the hour card can change and the value of their hours working on that type of project is increased.  As the community develops, people would exchange their hours depending on the level of performance they have achieved.  Thus a person who needs aid on a project can use a workshop to develop a workforce that can help on the specific project, and then be qualified to duplicate the project at another location.  This transfers abilities throughout the interconnected communities and builds capacity.

The hour cards are a mechanism for people to use to be able to exchange work on an even basis.  The development of a past knowledge base is increased through the investment of hours into work practice on topic. The amount of time applied on task governs the available growth that the individual receives from his effort.  If you just go through the motions, without taking the time to think and observe, you do not get the full benefit of your actions. 

The development of a routine, where differences are documented, allows one to gather the full breadth of information on the task.  To develop a skill requires many hours of practice until the initial nuance becomes commonplace.  Unfortunately, we may not have that time depending on the urgency of the situation. Eventually, each of us will develop mechanisms of approach that that allow our unique abilities to be recognized and applied to community benefit.  If we can communicate these abilities, we can jumpstart communication of the universal concepts.

The hour card should provide data and information that allows characterization of people involved in PODs.  This would include current skill level, interests and abilities.  Verification would take place in context of community – demonstrating the tasks will increase the participants level in the sovereign system and provide more leverage in the value of the card exchange.

Hour Cards would be issued prior to the beginning of a workshop and revised with the results of the workshop, based on the skills displayed in the demonstration task.  Each community would maintain their own grid of sixty-four game board and issue their own hour cards – which would fit into the Existence Grid as one unit in a larger grid of sixty-four.