CVA!

Today I got the envelope. And, inside the envelope, this:



I don't think I am able to express how happy I am!

I've always believed in AVA and in voluntary certification, to the point that I was thrilled at the idea of taking it as soon as the three year in the field requirement would apply. Right after AVA's demise, I decided to take the CVA no matter what, because associations can day, but beliefs shall not.

Today, Katie Campbell (who I thank for her tireless volunteering hours devoted to this cause!) also let me know that I am the first CVA awarded to a volunteer manager outside of North America. We need to do something about it... don't we?

I still support AVA's mission statement in full, and I wished for things to have been gone differently. I deeply believe that a brighter future cannot be born out of refusing to acknowledge mistakes and consequently changing our ways. I do not think that people involved in AVA have to be kept out of present efforts. However, I do think that, if no mistake is acknowledged on their side, they better be kept out.

Above all, AVA was designed to be international and multicultural. It was designed to be a beacon of tolerance, respect, fairness and knowledge exchange. It failed partly because - like Susan J Ellis said - those are big challenges.

But, because those are challenges that are unavoidable (impending globalization, outsourcing, bilinguism, multiculturalism) especially in light of the UN millenium development goals (read #8!), we do not need to drop them.

We need to try harder instead!

C'mooon

Long time no hear! I've been in a contemplative mood... other than that, I'm overwhelmed with work and study ;)

All these bloggers, newsletters, newsgroups literally bewilder you with TMI (too much information), which 9 times out of 10 is engineered to confuse your critical thinking till you gave up reasoning and buy whatever they say, nodding.

I want no misunderstanding here: I am ALL for freedom of speech. But being given freedom of speech doesn't necessarily mean or imply that it's fine to blurt out the first thing that crosses our mind. Freedom of speech also means freedom to shut up, and the concept isn't germane to what most people think of it.

So, there are all these opinions floating over the net. Somebody calls them folksonomies but so many could be safely defined nonsense, depending on who the user that blurts taxonomies out is and (especially) how s/he formed his/her opinion (namely logical thinking vs mere suggestion).

Information doesn't mean knowledge. Knowledge managers know it but (purposefully) forget it. That reminds me of why the GRE test baffles me so much. It's all there, written into those scripts, question AND answer, and I can't understand HOW ON EARTH it is possible to check the wrong answer. Again, information doesn't mean knowledge. And having an opinion doesn't mean there is a logic behind it.

I know I know, some would lecture me about the importance of feelings. Very very very important, I know, they guide what we learn and the way we choose. Still, they do not inform our logic. Using feelings in logical arguments is like measuring milk in kilometers.

Finally, we're all overwhelmed with the blabbers, ie institutions that should decide something and implement what they decide but get lost in speeches, talks and task forces (read the United Nations, the European Union, etc). The amount of blabbings that are needed just to get a EU grant is ludicrous.

Ah, I love America. The only rule is "make sense" vs "it doesn't". I wish the rest of the world would adopt more of this stand rather than other (questionable) ones.