Learning and Skill Exchange That people exchange'goods, services and information of course preceeds, the exchange of money for more money, information, services or goods. It·seems reasonable that when money is short barter exchange ventures-increase., and indeed during the 1930 depression ·.hundreds of exchanges sp.rung up-over 150 in the Los Angeles area alone. (People even bartered their ways into sports and . cultural events with fur belts, sculpture, etc.) . In 1971-72 I was aware of a.growing number of skill exchange projects, which arose out of somewhere along with free universities, learning exchanges and peopk·to-people indexes. A pioneer in Portland was called Labor Donated, which was funded by O.E.O. monies and consisted of a rotating staff who kept track of files kept on people willing to exchange their skills with others. Of course the major pitfall was that certain skills were more in demand than other~, so, for example, the auto mechanic got burned up while the piano teacher was seldom called upon. Consequently a few key skills dropped out. It seems there was a nationwide pattern of these·original skill exchanges failing' (though I'm not always sure what that means), and now it seem~ there's a revitalization. Just down the street from us at the Northwest Hotline a compilation is underway; to inventory the skills in NW Portland. There are similar exchanges in NE and SE Portland. The Self Help Center in SE Portland, sponsored by Portland Action Committees Together through G.S.A. money, seems to be·working successfully, with a membership of around 230 people.- They maintain·a tool,lending library (there's also one of these, I.hear, at the Corvallis, Or., Library), which includes sewing machines, food dryers, and a selection of moderately expensive, €-ILM/VIDEO • ) Open Screening Set Film and video artists around the region are invited to submit recent work for the Film Study Center's next open screening, Sunday, November 30, at 7:30 p.m. Contact the Center (S03226-2811) if you have work you would like to have shown. No admission is charged for those interested in attending the screening, and there is no charge to show films or tapes. or infrequently used (but useful) tools. They are also sponsoring winterization workshops, a firewood co-op, and some. •on-site pelp from carpenters, auto me- ·chanics. (3S34 SE Main, Portland, OR 97214). One of the most intriguing exchange networks is being developed in the Bay area. The Briar Patch network created in 1974 consists of over a hundred individuals, including many businesses, that have formed a federation in order to sustain and foster a spirit of coopera- •tive business ventures and create work situations which are educational (learning how the world works). Plans underway include an open-ended people directory (like Whole Earth Catalog, but individuals in the network as entries). G~t a copy of their "Review" by sending $1.00 (plus 25.q mailing) to: 330 Ellis St., San Francisco, CA 94102. This summer I helped coordinate a workshop on "neighborhood classifieds" and was rather astonished by the level •of awareness among the participantsabout the necessity to inventory the skills of a given neighborhood to increase the effectiveness of neighborhood groups in the political arena, and increase the possibility of groups enhancing their own neighborhoods with minimum outside economic aid. How odd, sitting around talking about varieties of ca,rd index filing systems; taking a simple, leap I imagined the card index makers wondering what was going on, like cigarette paper manufacturers or grape growers. An inv.entory that Ken Davis-did when at the University of Michiga~ listed30 to 40 different learning exchanges around the·country. That number has surely increased and includes many large indexes on college campuses such as the' University of Illinois, where the HE.LP file is 4 to S inches thick (computer paper). Free universities tend to go Washington State Student Film Contest , The Washii;igton Association for Educational Communications and Tec~nology and Central Washington State College· will hold the 4th Annual Washington State Film Contest March 20, 1976 at the Olympic Hotel in Seattle. Students from kindergarten through college living in Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho are invited to submit work in super 8mm and ·smm completed in the last year-.. Winning films will be presented at the March 20th program and awarded trophies and certificates. First place winn~rs in four age categories will be Nov 1975 RAIN Page 13 . •• ~. ~ ~ QI ~ : _:N ·,1 '" ' hand in h.and with learning exchangesor they are another way of saying somewhat the same thing. • Seems too that more and more con~ ferences result in cross-index,ed learning/ • skill exchanges among the participan~s. This style of follow-up tends to create •autonomous networks of interest, free from economics, maintained by th~ partkipants; it also enhances the experience of getting t,ogether-the conference is in effect continued. • Libraries such as the Vancouver Regional Library (Washington) have created exchange networks by maintaining • card indexes, structured similarly to • book indexes, only with individuals in • the local area willing to teach, wanting to learn, etc. The program just recently expandedfo include most of the southwest part of the state. Libraries in the eleven-county area around the Portland/Vancouver metropolis have banded together in order to inventory the reference skills of libraries, librarians and other information nodes, and have to that end recently published a·people-to-people index which may be gotten from Marion Otteraaen, Longview Public Library, 1600 Louisiana, Longview, WA 98631, (206) 423-2340. One of the most ambitious networks was established in 'the Bay area several years ago: Resource One/Community Memory established a community access computerized bulletin board with termi, .als in San Francisco, Berkeley and Palo Alto. For a good description, ~rite to: The Jouri:ial of Community C<.>mmunications, LGC Engin~ering, 1807 Delaware St., Berkeley, CA 94703 , (send $LOO). (~.J.) ' . entere·d into the A.E.C.T. National Student Film Festival in Annaheim, California. Deadline for entry is March 1, 1976. For information and entry blank, write_ Dr. William D. Schmidt, Audiovisual Division, Bouillion Library, Central Washington State Cqllege, Ellensburg, Washington 98926,'S09-963-1842. WANTED: Used Portapak in good conditio~. Peggy or Joanie, Oregon Legal.Services, 2328 N.W. Everett, Portland,'OR 97210, 223-7S02. - continued on page 18 •
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