The scope of this "Paul Crosland additional info" blog

 Here I'm chairing the event "Restorative Justice and Social Change: How NVC contributes" (20th April 2009)

If you want to read more about RJ and nonviolent communication, I recommend this page written by me and colleagues for another website.
A fuller version of ongoing nonviolent communication and restorative justice work will be developed on www.restorativejustice.pbworks.com/nonviolent_communication.

This blog is an invitation to you to join in/consider any of a number of conversations. I hope you share some of these interests:

• living with a greater sense of community/belonging
• healing hurts
• sharing what we've got

You do? Great, then I hope we'll soon be in a conversation where I get to listen to your hopes and ideas. Once we've each checked that we understand what the other wants to see in terms of a better world, we can see how we can build part of it with mutual support.
This blog ends with my CV; more generally it is opportunity for you to get more of a sense of my background and what makes me so passionate about Restorative Justice. I am most passionate about the  participatory approach called 'restorative circles' which has evolved (since 1995) in Brazil and is now receiving much recognition:

Dominic's work is widely recognised and now summarised well in pages 42-45 of the 'Radical Efficiency' report by NESTA, "the UK's foremost independent expert on ...innovation"; innovation which addresses social needs en route to the 'Big Society' of which the PM et al dream.
On the 4th August 2010, I recorded 7 'chunks' of interview with Dominic, which are available via the YouTube website; this being interview chunk No 4:


Paul and Dominic discussing the Radical Efficiency' report by NESTA (which has many references to Dominic's Restorative Circles work in Brazil)

Paul's passions beyond (& related to) Restorative Justice:

Developing on-line tools to help our conflicts "blossom" and to be well-managed without proliferating. My experimentation in this began when I launched ApologyPlus in 2006 with Marshall Rosenberg. This type of on-line conflict work (using restorative practitioner facilitated texts, audio and video messaging) continues now within the Safeground project, run by Restorative Technology Ltd, a NESTA supported project. 

Promoting sharing as a key area of growth in times of resource shortage/ environmental destruction. eg Freelending Community Interest Company's freelender.org website. If you want a site that looks slicker then, as my alter-ego, "Lend It All Man", I recommend ecobees.com , ecomodo.com and letsallshare.com. As a co-director of Freelending CIC, linked to freecycle UK and friendly with Freegle UK too, I attempt to bring all relevant players in the 'sharing and gift economy' together.

"Local sharing schemes like Landshare, Hospitality Club and www.Freelender.org mean you don't need to own your allotment, car or drill..." (Forum for the Future, a leading UK think-tank). See the freelenders blog for amusing stories of the growth of this new economics (some of the players who are making the 'next step' links to fractional ownership and/or 'high-tech shanty towns')

Fundraising for the dignity and opportunity of those short-changed by India's caste system by supporting Dalit-run charities and other Karuna.org projects.

Building communties with shared spiritual goals, as modelled by the Triratna Buddhist Community.

Perhaps from this site you get the picture that I spend much of my time developing, commissioning and/or contributing to websites?
Face-to-face work I do includes:

• fundraising 
• living in Buddhist communities and developing 'team-based right livelihood'
• restorative justice caseworker (eg in Magistrates/Crown Courts on behalf of the Centre for Peaceful Solutions)
• interviewing people for YouTube (user name toothpaste007) using the freelender.org iPhone

The phrase I like that describes my web work is "Digital Disruption":

"Digital technologies are ‘disruptive’ in that they enable new forms of provision that meet user needs better and at lower cost.
Successful internet tools are scalable, personal, collaborative and can be extraordinarily cheap to develop. The web disrupts traditional services by cutting out the middle-man, providing greater flexibility and offering people goods and services which are highly tailored to their needs. In short, they put the service user in control.

The internet cannot alone heal the sick or collect bins, but it can be used to assist the design and delivery of our public services. Web and mobile platforms that offer people the ability to interact with one another and with information and institutions are particularly useful for enabling the kind of action that could prove central to delivering radical efficiency." (Digital Disruption -case studies, 2010, NESTA, London)