Communication
The 12 basic needs
The basis for all communication is talking. The rest is substitute whether it is writing, using smokesignals, or communicating via the media. Only in a normal discussion or dialogue all the images, feelings and gestures come alive to make communication communication! At least one or more times a year meeting each other is essential to really understand each other also afterwards via the other media.
Especially new in communication is that EVERYBODY is now interested in EVERYTHING and wants to know EVERY detail. Internet shows that we are now surfing into all corners of knowledge, but also open presentation days of farms, hospitals, small and big companies, harbours, military organizations, schools, theatres etc etc are visited more and more every year. Plus discussions today in workshops, papers and parliaments are about black and white points of view and about all colours of all aspects in between. All information is necessary now because every individual human being feels more and more responsible from now on!
But of course real information is not communication only! Every manager knows that the most important thing is to have the “helicopter-view” over the company and the whole environment of the world where it is operating. And that you need to recognise in that 360-view the headlines and the sidelines and the priorities to work towards the goals of the whole enterprise. And today in the bottom-up structures everybody in the company is a manager and co-creator and needs to communicate in a managerial way also. And so the consumer in the world of economy and the citizen in the world of democracy!
Therefore we see that consumer organizations are already highly professionalized in facilitating the communication between all parties by organizing websites for general information, research for in-depth information, and organizing open visitor days and conferences. And last but not least gathering all the questions of consumers to translate it into a workable communication-process between consumers and producers. The bottom-up marketing in an economy of question and answer!
But from the other side of the “kitchentable” we see also more openess in reporting by producers and service-organizations and governments. And all the parties in between as trade and banking, but also media and journalists became real facilitators and moderators! And last but not least the world of communication got a new worldwide player itself: the World Social Forum where everybody talks with everyone about everything! So we see now three catagories of organizations representing head heart and hands: 1. social forums worldwide as platforms for the 360 survey, 2. political parties and ngo’s for the talking about goals and realization, people and organizations, and relations and laws between people, and 3. consumer-organizations and consumer authorities to coordinate consumer-questions.
10 202310 October 2023
WorldWideWeb, CitizenCouncils and ConsumerAssociations – Our Head, Heart and Hands in the 21st Century
10 202210 October 2022
Big Picture and Detail – Communication in the 21st Century
Communication is nothing more than communication. But no less either! If we oversee the whole world of communication it is only about the ways of transporting. Talking and writing, publishing and conferencing, emails, chats and webinars, searching, researching and last but not least investigating.
And that brings us to science and research, to education and even traveling for finding new information and new discoveries. Even beyond the borders of natural sciences only!
Because behind all visible worlds there are the ideas, the plans, the strategies and all other “building principles”. Intensified observing and intensified thinking through about all the phenomenons can give the same or even better insights than training higher insights of “clairevoyance” via meditation alone. And is much easier to communicate with everyone else!
In other words: science is about the big picture and the details, and communication is mostly about details, and only sometimes about the big picture. But in the end it is always about insight and understanding as a basis for better arguments to take better decisions in our daily life, in organizations and in the world as a whole.
Thanks to the internet we can communicate with almost everyone worldwide. And about all kinds of issues thanks to Google and Wikipedia. And think about everything during all the presentations of TEDx.
And based on better structures for discussion such as the Sustainable Development Goals, international agreements and rules such as the Global Reporting Initiative GRI guidelines. And last but not least consumer-producer dialogue, civic councils and free press in general.
Read more:
- Rethink the Internet / Bloomberg Interview Tim Berners Lee, inventor of the WorldWideWeb. At the NextWeb Conference in Amsterdam May/June 2022 (23 min)
- Natural Sciences and its Bounderies (two lectures by Rudolf Steiner 2/3 October 1920)
- Consumer360 as logo and platform for communication of insights and experiences.
10 202201 January 2022
WorldWideWeb360 – Consumer Governance is Becoming Mainstream.
Now we have passed the 21st year in the 21st century we might call ourselves adults at last! After 3×7 years of upgrading our consumer knowledge, struggling with all kinds of arguments, and last but not least trying out all kinds of organizing new ways of sustainable and responsible lifestyles. And where awareness is the basis of it all and by definition irreversible, education is still life(s)long learning, and action always trial and error. The WorldWideWeb360 of cultural social and economical organizations is based on the 12 necessities of life and the 7 aspects of dialogue between consumers and production / services / advisors. It gives us the “overview” and shows the big picture.
Looking back
Most important what happened this year was the international conference in Berlin organized by UNESCO and Education International where finally was decided that sustainable and responsible lifestyles will be integrated in every curriculum of every school worldwide! Like a follow up the COP 26 Conference in Glasgow resulted in the first steps of implementing the answers on the questions of the next generation. Talking in the language of Greta Thunberg: from bla bla bla to do do do! The road ahead will not be easy but it feels very professional now!
Looking forward
The year 2022 will hopefully bring many new initiatives and many breakthroughs in all kinds of organizations. Climate cannot wait anymore and so the case of inequality worldwide. Sustainability in nature, but also healthier and more tasteful food are the best options to work for. Because healthy food is the basis for healthy thinking to build a healthy future. And so the tendencies toward true prices and true incomes. Maturity means think, argue and act in a healthy way. Real interest, real empathy, and real vigor are the tools!
10 201807 July 2018
70 Years International Archives Day – Learning from the past to build the future
June 9 was the 70th birthday of the International Council on Archives ICA in Paris founded together with UNESCO. Called International Archives Day and promoting all archives worldwide to “go out of the box – into the world” so that everybody can learn from the past to build the future we want.
Because “the records that we preserve and make accessible ensure that the deeds and achievements of all individuals are not forgotten. They ensure that the rights and entitlements of citizens are recognised and respected. They hold the intellectual capital that will fuel our information economy. And they are the evidence of government actions that hold our governments and their officials accountable to the people that they serve. You cannot change the past, but you can change the future. And this is the principal purpose of Archives. To bring the past to the present and enable us to construct the future we want” (David Fricker, president of ICA).
In Maastricht we organized an Open Day to present our Consumer360Archive on the history of the consumer from the 20th into the 21st century, when consumer initiatives became consumer groups and consumer organizations.
Read more:
10 201702 February 2017
Dialogue Dialogue Dialogue – Global Goal SDG 12
The Global Goal SDG 12 requires a systemic approach and cooperation among actors operating in the supply chain, from producer to final consumer. It involves engaging consumers through awareness-raising and education on sustainable consumption and lifestyles, providing consumers with adequate information through standards and labels and engaging in sustainable public procurement, among others. This is the official text of SDG 12 of the United Nations declaration about the Sustainable Development Goals 2015 – 2030.
For this purpose the international guidelines for sustainable production and consumption ISO 26000 and especially the follow up of these guidelines the newly introduced ISO 20400 about dialogue in the supply chain are providing the information infrastructures and suggestions for dialogue among ALL stakeholders about ALL aspects of ALL products and services we need for our daily living (January 2017 – to be published May 2017). We were (partly) involved in the Dutch working group to think about the consumer aspects and because dialogue is the main instrument for working towards the future we want.
And whatever product or service we are communicating about it is always about the seven aspects of all trade: quality, quantity and price, about guarantees, and finally about payment, delivery and user issues. These are the aspects of trade as described in every book about economics and globalization. The modern aspects of trade are now also sustainability, true pricing, labelling and ethics.
Read more:
10 201201 January-March 2012
Words words words…
In February in the Amsterdam Tropical Museum the NCDO celebrated 40 years of Dutch international development. We heard interesting keynote speeches of Pascal Lamy of WTO and World Bank as a “follow-up” of the Christmas speech of HM Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands in December who was now listening. In January there was the yearly conference of the World Economic Forum in Davos where Klaus Schwab organized an interesting debate at the end about business and ethics. Also in the same month many people were gathering in Porto Alegre in Brasil on the World Social Forum. And this year the Council on Foreign Relations are celebrating their 90th anniversary as a think tank for US international diplomacy. Title of the first issue of Foreign Affairs this year is “Clash of Ideas in 90 Years”.
Read more:
10 200709 September 2007
Talk of the Day – The World as a Village
No great events in September but a lot of talking about everything! We were at a debate about the essence of warfare in Amsterdam, and next month about warfare and civilians organized by the Red Cross in the Peace Palace in The Hague. Since 9/11 everybody worldwide became aware that war and peace has everything to do with everybody!
We made a testdrive in the Honda Civic Hybride (smooth!) and read about BMW (fast!) in big advertisements about hybrid and hydrogen in the near future. And that electric power transmission has no technical limits for high speeds for trains and cars as well. China is thinking more thoroughly about sustainability, Korea is opening up a litlle bit, the US takes a litlle bit back of its authorithy and joins the debate, in the Middle East some problems have to be solved yet. African countries are in the picture now and will join the world economic stage soon. Consumers worldwide become more and more conscious of living in the same “village”!
10 200707 July / August 2007
Press Room: News in the Making – Interesting Developments Ahead!
More interesting than the hottest news of course is the expected news ahead! What news is in the making, which developments and trends are ahead, and can we see them already? In the same way as reading Agatha Christie life itself can be read as a thrilling story in which we ourselves are the players! As Shakespeare wrote for “As you like it” now performed in the open air theatre of Diever www.shakespearetheaterdiever.nl in Holland: “The world’s a stage …… and all consumers and producers are merely players”. www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/all-world-s-stage ……..
And: invisible consumers and producers are becoming more and more visible! Of all twelve economic areas FINALLY the most earthy – food and agriculture – is appearing in full spotlight on the worldstage now! A little book appeared about the whole processing of money in the chain from consumer to producer working towards an economy of question and answer. (Geld verbindt de BD-voedselketen / Money connects the biodynamic foodchain / Jan Saal / 2,50 / overige uitgaven / www.gezichtspunten.nl / only in Dutch yet). It describes in an enthousiastic way how we can make the best connections and personal relations with our producers in buying the products cash and pin, saving and investing – call it prepaid – in stocks of the shops in the chain, and making new developments possible in research and education by subsidizing. After the developments of the paper baskets with fresh crops from the countryside this is the phase of professionalizing the relations between consumers and producers into the 21st century. For insiders: This book also finds its roots in 1980 when Triodosbank was founded, projects in many shops started together with many consumers, then students, some of them now CEO’s in the foodchain! Jan Saal is now director of the school for educating farmers and chairman of Demeter International in Holland, organization for biodynamic agriculture. See www.demeter-bd.nl or www.demeter.net The Triodosbank itself www.triodos.nl is now also present in Bristol www.triodos.co.uk Brussels www.triodos.be Frankfurt www.triodos.de and Madrid www.triodos.es and working together with banks worldwide in microfinancing projects. After being helpers then with the start of Triodosbank for producers and consumers, the writer of this newsarticle (Peter Daub) specialized since then in consumer issues and consumer organizations and founded the Vrije Consumenten Vereniging / Free Consumers Association in 2001. This year we chose our new (extra) name Consumer360 www.consumer360.org as our new international name.
More special news in the making is of course visible in all kinds of discussions about genetical modified food and medicins, about the great deathtoll of bees worldwide caused by the artificial beekeeping the last hundred years. The worldwide conference of beekeepers is next month in Melbourne www.apimondia2007melbourne.com But also Mac Donalds is now switching to ecological food! Perhaps all initiatives together worldwide give us a climate change in the right direction again? In the 21st century globalization shows that now everybody is a pioneer! The news is in the making every second of the day in every corner of the world! Of all developments in our 360 degrees world we see that everybody is aware of globalization now and wishing to be involved more and more! The new TV broadcasting station Independent World Television IWT www.therealnews.com started this month! Independent because it is financed by consumers only! A station where everybody can ask questions and make contributions in the search for news!
10 200607 July / August 2006
Dialogue, dialogue
The dialogue between consumer-citizens (civil society), governments and business is more and more going on as a matter of course. Especially in focusing on the essence, the quality of products and services. Based on all the questions asked in recent years we see now a minister talking about taste of food together with top-cooks, milk factories selling fresh milk from cows living outdoors, german top carmakers introducing hydrogen cars. Trade talks emerging to fair trade talks, microfinance for small entrepeneurs worldwide, conflictmanagement in international relations. The world has become a coffee-house! Dialogue was also the special focus of one of the co-founders of Triodosbank. Dr A H Bos (Lex) discovered in his seven years of research that dialogue has everything to do with facts versus opinions, and goals versus ‘roadmaps’. About facts and goals you need to agree, about opinions and the ways to work it out you are going into dialogue. Lex inspired thousands of people in governments and multinationals worldwide with his enthousiasm and profesionalism! He helped us all to find the basics of communication between people with the utmost respect for the individual freedom. Lex was also the mentor of our initiative! He died July 30 at the age of 81 and is still our mentor!
Read more:
Lex Bos
Literature: Lex Bos / Forming Judgements. A Path to Inner Freedom 87-89303-42-3
Seminars and workshops: https://en.dialoog.net/“