Currently I'm working on a plan to create a website that helps to facilitate people meeting up and sharing their skills/knowledge for a community education group. Hopefully it will help people to meet up in their towns/cities and start workshops/classes in whatever the participants wanted to do.
I'm quite sure that someone would have designed and experimented with this type of thing somewhere on the internet but I've been having a really hard time to find anything that even comes close to this concept.
The kind of website I'm looking for is one in which people setup profiles and search for 'members' that have skills or knowledge that they want to learn and somehow contact each other to share what they know http://www.hospitalityclub.org is a website that has a similar format but is mainly for offering accomodation
Also, does anyone know of any any radical/revolutionary/non-governmental learning-focused groups that look at using the internet for decentralised, grassroots projects?
I can help you with the first part of your question. If I understand you correctly, you are looking to create a new service, so you don’t want to find something exactly the same?
There are some examples of volunteer and skill match websites, to help you with a model for your site, but I was not able to find any that are specifically in the field of grassroots action (though those below may list some grassroots/radical projects).
NGO volunteer sites: United Nations Volunteers Online: organisations and volunteers can register and be matched to projects:
Go Volunteer: achieves a similar aim for smaller community groups (nothing to stop radical groups from participating!) also: Volunteer Match
Libraries often create classes on demand for groups of patrons within a range of skills. For example, see the guidelines at University of Oregon.
43 Things: Not quite what you’re after, but a good example of people matching – this site matches goals to people who want to do them and people who have achieved them. People can post advice and encouragement
Good luck with your project, it's a great idea!
I would also suggest contacting the small business centre of your local public library, even though you are not starting a business. Librarians often answer questions from people wanting to know if their idea has been done before eg to apply for patents.
More suggestions from other volunteers welcome!