Not all networks are the same!
The permaculture movement, as well as many allied movements, are driven by people doing amazing work to change the communities they are part of. Many of those people use the internet to learn about permaculture and to find others in the movement to speak to.
The CoLab has been born out of the need to not only talk to each other at beyond local levels but to also work with each other at beyond local levels. In permaculture we love synergies. There are an indefinite number of synergies to be discovered and created by working with each other across local context. The CoLab is being designed to make that enjoyable and effective.
The network will have many collaborative projects underway at any one time, and many people are in more than one project. Because of this overlap, innovations generated in one collaboration often quickly spread to many other collaborations, with the aim of creating dynamic accumulation in problem solving. This appraoch has a greater capacity to make the best use of valuable resources (people, ideas, materials etc), and is non-heirarchrial; relying on coperative solutions.
We also consider how and why we connect to create the most meaningful and purposeful way of engaging for everyone.