"modified open space" -Reply

GROVER PARTEE PARTEE.GROVER at EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV
Tue Apr 21 07:54:41 PDT 1998


Birgitt expressed some concerns about "modified open space."  I find them quite
reasonable.  If people are turning away from Open Space because they saw what
they were told was Open Space and were turned off by it, that is a problem.
However, since "Open Space" and "OST" are not trademarks, there's little that
can be done to prevent perversions, intentional or not.  The best we can do is to
be clear as to what constitutes an Open Space event and what does not.

And I believe that the principles of Open Space can easily carry over into realms
which we would not chose to call Open Space events.  I suggest we may want to
support opening space at every opportunity, even where, for whatever reason, an
Open Space event is not a good choice.

Perhaps here's one key: "open space" is any application of the principles and
"Open Space" is an application of the process.  The principles support the
process but do not require it.  The process arguably does require the principles.



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