+ To start this activity, you must choose two moderators. The first will be in charge of reading the following instructions for each exercise to everyone. The second moderator is in charge of keeping track of time during each exercise.
+ If you are doing this activity through video conferencing software, whoever reads the instructions can also share their screen. In this mode, parenthetical texts indicate the best use of the camera.
+ Develop this exercise in your first language ot the one that is most confortable for you.
+ For this exercise you will need pen and paper.
+ It is an exercise focused on ourselves.
+ It is an exercise to break the ice, and introduce ourselves to the art of asking for questions.
+ To this end, each of us will have to answer the following question:
WHAT QUESTION WOULD YOU ASK YOURSELF?
+ (Now, if we have cameras, we can turn them off.)
+ Look for a comfortable place in the room.
+ You can create all kinds of questions. There are neither good nor bad questions, and there are especially no wrong questions.
+ You have 5 minutes to ask yourself between one and one thousand questions
+ Start with any question and – if you like – continue until you fill out the page.
WHAT QUESTION WOULD YOU ASK YOURSELF?
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+ Ok, we are ready
+ Now, choose only one question, one that you feel comfortable sharing.
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+ Do you have it?
+ (Let's turn our cameras on.)
+ First let's all raise and show each other the sheet of paper where we wrote the questions.
+ Now we invite you, one by one, to share the question you chose. As a sign of respect, we will not answer or comment on any of these questions. We will only listen to them, one after the other, trying to think through them, rather than evaluating or judging them.
+ Who wants to start?
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+ Now that you have asked yourself questions, and we have begun an internal dialogue, we are ready to move on to the next exercise.
+ In this exercise we will focus on our common practice, asking questions regarding our collective mission.
+ To this end, considering our specific field of action, we will answer the question:
WHAT QUESTION IS URGENT TO ASK?
+ Each one of you will have five minutes to answer this question, either with one or 100 other questions.
+ After five minutes, we will meet again to share these questions.
+ You should aim to ask questions that are not just an opinion expressed in the form of a question, but a questioning that precedes or makes possible multiple and even unthinkable points of view.
+ Then:
WHAT QUESTION IS URGENT TO ASK?
+ (Let's turn our cameras off)
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+ OK, now each one will present their question(s)
+ (Let's turn our cameras on.)
+ Like on previous occasions, we do not need to answer them. Instead, we need to understand that there are multiple answers, many of which go beyond our own experiences.
+ With this in mind, we will think through these questions. We will seek to discuss, opening up a conversation that surrounds the questions. For example, we can discuss which of these questions mobilize us as a community.
+ We have 15 minutes to develop this dialogue and to choose an urgent question that motivates us to share it publicly; a question that succeeds in representing us as a community.
+ To choose this question, we can take a vote. We can also reach consensus through discussion, by taking part in the common creation of a new question, or by mixing and editing the original questions.
+ Thus, we must now ask ourselves, which question or questions represent us as a community?
+ Who wants to start?
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+ Now that we have chosen a question, we have the option of physically installing one of these questions in a specific location through a printed Toolkit.
+ Where could we install this question and with whom would we like to share it?
+ Let's choose a place to share this question. It can be installed in a storefront window, a wall chart, or an outdoor public space.
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+ In the last section of this Toolkit, we can either download or request by mail a set of printed letters with our question. Let's get organized to develop the process for installing the letters, We can do it together as one group, or individually at each of our own places, by the end of this session or later on.
+ We have already questioned ourselves as a community; now we can move on to the last activity. Here, we will interrogate the present, thinking about other organized communities, and of those whose voices are underrepresented.
+ A generative question, is a question that can only be answered through another question.
+ For example, we could ask:
What is an urgent question to ask in your neighborhood?
What question should we ask ourselves regarding civil rights?
What should we ask of our politicians?
What question is in urgent need of being asked in America?
+ This last activity seeks to propose new questions for other communities.
+ To this end, we will answer the question:
WHAT GENERATIVE QUESTION IS URGENT TO ASK?
+ We have five minutes to develop at least one generative question.
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+ Now, let's share for the last time one question each.
+ This time, we can answer them, but of course, only through another question.
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+ Thank you very much for participating in these activities. Now we invite you to share your questions with other participants of this project in the last section of the digital platform.