About Libby Davy

bea-and-lib.jpg

Biog for Teaching Blogging

[Revisionist note: I can’t stand these pretend third person biogs anymore, but can’t justify editing this page. Let it remain as a relic from a bygone (hopefully) age.]

Libby Davy has over 15 year’s experience working professionally and teaching communications – for individuals and organisations. She contributes to several blogs and was a pioneer blogger at www.barkingowl.com/learning and other spaces.

Currently studying a Masters in Person-Centred Education at the University of Sussex, Libby is interested in how blogs support life-long learning through their open, reflective and communal nature. Libby is a co-founder of one of the internet’s most exciting new online communities www.scouta.com, where she hosts groups on Education and Brighton.

After gaining a degree in communications and media Libby eventually went on to teach writing, editing and publishing at a university and community level. She is a published and awarded short-story writer, and has had her work broadcast on national radio. For many years, Libby worked in strategic communications, marketing, organizational development and business coaching.

Libby is a fun, friendly, Australian mother with a passion for education and human potential.

Contact 01273 540 023 or 07968 687 107 to book a place or arrange a tailored workshop series.

I am available to run blogging courses or undertake other education and communication projects.

  • There is on open invitation for people 16(ish) to 106 years to attend an expansive blogging course I will be running in Brighton for 10 evenings from the Autumn (September) term 2007.
  • Academic staff & students can also get involved in a course coming up in 2007.
  • I would also like to hear from any younger learners or their families wanting to get cool and safe on the internet and to start blogging.

References, Personal & Overview

Sometimes it’s best to ask others to write the “about” stuff. So there follow some words from people I have worked with before. It feels strange to display these words. As many of us will be new to each other, though, they might be helpful as a kind of introduction in this virtual space.

I suppose I am an educator and activist at heart, with a great love of people and our potential. Strategic and hands-on communications will always be in my life too.My key interests at present are blogging for learning and pleasure, life-long learning, student voice and learning communities, within a context of person-centred education and community development.

I have a keen interest in emerging technologies including social software and am married to internet and technology innovator Graeme Sutherland who I collaborate with regularly. Our latest venture (with CEO Richard Giles and the online community) is Scouta - a rapidly growing online social network creating new and better word-of-mouth recommendations for online media. We say “scouting is better than searching.” Why not join and experience it for yourself? I host groups on education and brighton. You can create groups for any topic you like.

We have a great kid called Bea (6 going on 16). Her latest invention is solar system tarot and she has just started learning to ride ponies on the South Downs. I love watching her draw. As Picasso said “It took me a lifetime to learn to draw like a child”.

We moved back to England from Australia in May 2006 and are loving it. I am currently teaching blogging, working on the community development side of Scouta, new projects and ethical businesses.

After doing the first stage of a great MA in Person Centred Education at Sussex University, I am now taking some time out to get back into teaching and research in the UK before continuing, hopefully with a new cohort in January 2008.

You can also google me to find out about other dimensions, eg. social entrepreneurship, learning communities & networks I have co-founded (education, sustainability), facilitation and consultancy work, sustainable (ecological, ethical) business, photography, culture jamming, stakeholder relations, communications.

I would put a CV up, but they are so linear and hollow don’t you think? Nothing like a bit of deep (online) content to get lost in.

If there’s anything specific you want an answer to, best thing, just drop me a line and ask what you will. Email libby@barkingowl.com (24 hour turnaround for most queries). Or meet up for a mind-opening coffee/miso/tea. I live nestled between the ocean and the South Downs in Brighton (UK) and visit London regularly.

[[ Apologies in advance for the structure of this page - it is undergoing a major editing process. Just like us all, it’s a work in progress. Does anyone know how to get Wordpress’ paragraph breaks to behave too? ]]


Key Quotes

(Taken from references provided by Odette Haley, Social Ecologist and Dr Nigel de Bussy, communications expert, educator, academic.)

  • “Through her outgoing personality, unfailing enthusiasm, and strong interpersonal communication skills she was able to inspire her students…”
  • “Libby’s outstanding capacity to think outside the box is extraordinary and I believe she demonstrates an uncanny adeptness to challenge established convention and thinking in order to generate exciting new possibilities.”
  • “One of the great attributes of Libby is her ability to be a profound protagonist.”
  • “…capacity for creativity and innovation…”
  • “Libby has continued to exemplify the characteristics of tenacity and resourcefulness tempered by unrelenting self-leadership that motivates others to also work toward achieving their own potential.”
  • “…inspired, articulate and active commitment…”
  • “Libby also possesses well-developed emotional and social intelligence that she utilizes effectively to form strong relationships and networks at local, national and international levels.”
  • “Libby is likeable and warm hearted with a well developed sense of humour…”
  • “She is a proactive and committed person who never takes on projects she does not believe in for the sake of expediency. Libby is motivated by intrinsic rather than extrinsic rewards. When she believes in something, she will throw herself into it with exemplary passion and enthusiasm.”
  • “…she has demonstrated knowledge, skills and wisdom that mark her as a futuristic thinker, highly functional communicator and team member.”
  • “I have known Libby for more than ten years and have a very high regard for her personal integrity and concern for social justice.”
  • “Libby as a council member was always creating focus on ‘the child at the centre of the village’.”
  • “She brings with her amazing experiences, innovative capabilities and incredible passion directed to improve the lives of children in highly ethical and sustainable ways.”
  • “Libby has a long-standing commitment to the ideals of the stakeholder theory of management. Throughout her career as a practitioner and educator in public relations, her concern was always with the area of stakeholder consultation and dialogue.”
  • “…outgoing personality, unfailing enthusiasm, and strong interpersonal communication skills…”
  • “…inspir(ing) her students to understand the importance of ethics and social responsibility…”
  • “She sustained a truly warrior-like stance as an advocate for children under much pressure to maintain the conservative line.”


Personal & Family Stuff

Gravyland is where the three of us try and post for family and friends to stay abreast of various shennanigans. Usually has a few photos too. Bea just put up her first post and got comments and all!

Personal website - Gra gave me this for a birthday, sweet thing, when I was starting to get more serious about photography. Includes some creative writing.

As Gra wisely says, we all have various narrative strands, many stories, intertwined. One blog or site cannot do it all. A CV? A necessary evil, but so last century. Things begin and end, come together, move apart. We change. We are not linear. We are people. We are society.

Links to some other projects

The Big Love Gift Guide

  • Conscious consumerism project. Ranks No. 1 with Google for “gift guide” + love. Interactive and thought provoking.

< TV Turn Off Week - overview

Report on Australian campaign

  • Media literacy project I co-ordinated with the Adbusters Media Foundation.

Sustainable Business Network

Since 1999, dedicated to bringing people together for inspiration and information on the positive potential of business. Co-founder.

Full references quoted from above (for those with way too much interest)

Nigel de Bussy

Strategic stakeholder communications practitioner
Educator, academic

I have been asked to provide an academic and professional reference for Ms Libby Davy. I understand she has applied for a Masters course at Sussex University.

I have known Libby for more than ten years and have a very high regard for her personal integrity and concern for social justice. I first knew her when she worked as a public relations consultant in Perth. Later she became an important member of our sessional staff for several years with responsibility for running numerous undergraduate tutorial classes.

Libby has a long-standing commitment to the ideals of the stakeholder theory of management. Throughout her career as a practitioner and educator in public relations, her concern was always with the area of stakeholder consultation and dialogue. Through her outgoing personality, unfailing enthusiasm, and strong interpersonal communication skills she was able to inspire her students to understand the importance of ethics and social responsibility in the practice of corporate communications.

Libby is motivated by intrinsic rather than extrinsic rewards. When she believes in something, she will throw herself into it with exemplary passion and enthusiasm. From what she has told me about your course, it sounds like an ideal match for Libby’s interests and talents. I am happy to recommend her strongly.

Please let me know if I can provide any further clarification or information.

Yours sincerely, Nigel de Bussy, PhD, MPRIA
Senior Lecturer in Public Relations
School of Marketing
Curtin University of Technology

Note: Nigel is English by birth and did his MA at Oxford before moving to Australia.)


Odette Haley - Social Ecologist

I have known Ms Libby Davy in the capacity of a working colleague on the Ministerial Child Care Advisory Committee (MCCAC) of Western Australia for over a year. During this time I have observed Libby in a wide range of circumstances in which she has demonstrated knowledge, skills and wisdom that mark her as a futuristic thinker, highly functional communicator and team member. So it is with great pleasure and professional respect that I write this reference.

During the time we shared on the committee, I worked with Libby on the development of a visionary document for child care in Western Australia. Providing community services in the State is a big challenge, with a population of 2 million spread out over 1.6 million square miles. Aboriginal children can suffer greatly within the current systems and were vitally important in our planning. Other major multicultural groupings include families from Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese backgrounds, along with a range of other cultures. Australia today has a very diverse population. Service provision in regional areas is also a key concern.
Our project brief was to develop a vision that exemplified the collective responses of the committee and community and, through this, establish new directions for child care in the state of Western Australia for the 21st century.

Therefore, Libby and I were chosen by the committee members, who were drawn from a diverse range of contexts within the child care sector, to undertake this task, due to our mutual capacity for creativity and innovation. Thus, what resulted from our collaboration was a state of the art representation of this vision, produced in both a visual and written format. The Minister of Community Development has since accepted these as key documents for child care in Western Australia.

From our first initial contact at the planning session of the MCCAC, I witnessed the inspired, articulate and active commitment of Ms Libby Davy to quality childhood environments and to the betterment of those ecologies which shape the child.

Since then Libby has continued to exemplify the characteristics of tenacity and resourcefulness tempered by unrelenting self-leadership that motivates others to also work toward achieving their own potential.

Libby’s outstanding capacity to think outside the box is extraordinary and I believe she demonstrates an uncanny adeptness to challenge established convention and thinking in order to generate exciting new possibilities.

I believe that Libby has qualities that are most desirable assets in the working environments of the 21st century. Libby is highly creative, able to deal with complex situations and able to think to the future, while considering the wisdom of the past and present.

Libby also possesses well-developed emotional and social intelligence that she utilizes effectively to form strong relationships and networks at local, national and international levels.

Her intelligence and integrity are undisputed and she will be a great loss to the Ministerial Child Care Advisory Committee. Indeed she will be almost impossible to replace.

Therefore it is with unreserved enthusiasm that I recommend Libby to any individual or organization that may wish to employ her services. On a personal note, I wish her the very best that life has to offer.

Yours in service of the community,

Odette Haley
BA (Early Childhood Education), BEd (Hons), MA (Social Ecology),
MACE, Dip (Train & Assess Sys), Dip Frontline Mgmt, PhD (Education) Candidate

Also from Odette Haley
Specific to Master of Arts Application) One of the great attributes of Libby is her ability to be a profound protagonist. Libby as a council member was always creating focus on “the child at the centre of the village”. She sustained a truly warrior-like stance as an advocate for children under much pressure to maintain the conservative line.

I feel that Libby is most suited to the field of study and inquiry that your faculty offers and I believe that Libby will make a great contribution to the course as part of the student body.

She brings with her amazing experiences, innovative capabilities and incredible passion directed to improve the lives of children in highly ethical and sustainable ways.

Therefore I highly recommend Libby as a future and most valuable intellectual asset to the University of Sussex.

Yours in service of the community

Odette Haley

Principal Consultant - Terra Mater Social Ecologists

Note: Odette lives and works closely with Aboriginal people in the far North-West of Australia.

If you have made it all the way to the end of this page, then here is a reward for being so involved and friendly. Check out an old story about our attempt to live the country life after Bea was born and have a laff at our expense! Plus audio natterings about the same stage of life. All good for the Learning Biography!