shoemaker's children

Sat Jan 13 13:26:04 PST 2001

- And (the last point, I promise...), I think that Open Space will dye if it continues to be "American (continent) only"; and I am quite concerned that other foruns are being created in national languages that don't report their discussions to this international forum and conduct people to have less time to this one.

Hello again.  I certainly seem to be jumping into these discussions with both feet :).

I just wanted to share an experience on the idea of OS being "American only".  When I was in Sweden taking the OS trainings there was a one day Open Space meeting with the theme being something about an exploration of what Open Space really is.  One of the topics that went up was about whether or not the name Open Space was too "American".  I was astounded to learn that when referring to Open Space in Swedish, they were still saying Open Space in English.  It never occurred to me that if the discussion was happening in another language that the words Open Space wouldn't be translated into that language.  I'm sure that the term might not translate well into other languages, but who can honestly say that the first time they heard the term Open Space that it made sense to them?  Perhaps some of the feeling that OS is too "American" comes from issues as basic as this?  The underlying principles of OS are universal aren't they?

As I'm sure that you already know, a new listserve came out of the trainings in Sweden, with the discussions happening in Swedish.  I think that this is a great way to foster community.  It is much easier to have discussions in your first language than it is to struggle with words in a language that you don't know as well.  And perhaps we can all work together to find a way to share these discussions in a way that is easy for everyone to understand.

Rachel Bolton

-----Original Message-----
From: Artur F. Silva <artsilva at mail.eunet.pt>
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Date: January 13, 2001 11:06 AM
Subject: Re: shoemaker's children

>At 12:43 09-01-2001 -0500, Birgitt Williams wrote:
>
>>Dear colleagues on the list,
>>I sometimes feel like we on the os-list are like shoemaker's children. In
>>this case, consultants/facilitators who work with other organizations to
>>develop best practices using OST but in my experience we don't apply what we
>>know to ourselves.
>
>I would like two had my two cents on that.
>
>First, I would like to say that this list is really Open Space. A very special
>Open Space indeed as we are ALL holding the space. I don't think that we need
>to state that the fundamentals of OS apply because they are really applied,
>in part because we are an Open Space community, in part because of the
>"Open" character of Internet and mailing lists.
>
>I have always appreciated to read ALL the mails I have red, and if sometimes
>I don't have the time or am not interested in a particular subject I have not
>even to hit the delete bottom; I don't open those mails, as I have not
>"signed" for that particular session. And, yes, I appreciate to know the
>training
>and facilitation that others are doing; and I very much appreciate (even
>when I
>was only in "read mode") the help and suggestions that everybody gives for
>others "requests for help".
>
>I belong to many lists in different languages and subjects and this is the
>only list (and community) I always felt I was a member of (even when no
>one knew that except me). The reason for that is that in this list there is
>"coherence" between content and form, and passion is real and not
>simulated. (And the things I don't like, here or elsewhere, is when a
>"good" content is expressed with the wrong format - a format that
>uses dictatorship, or shows no respect for the feelings of others, for
>instance - and if there are any "principles" that may facilitate that, I
>would prefer to revise them, and allow for "irresponsibility" to be fully
>opened and commented...)
>
>Apart from that, I agree with Birgitt and others that, from time to time,
>we shall discuss (or re-discuss) what we want this list to be. What other
>things (in this case it is "more" things, not less...) could we use the
>list for?
>
>I would suggest that we could use this list to exchange more information,
>learning, and clarification and permanent improvements on OS concepts and
>techniques. Some points to clarify that:
>
>- I think that OS is greater that OST - I would like to hear experiences
>of Spaces being opened out there even if they don't use OST (having said
>that, I must clarify that I am not referring mainly to other "Large Scale
>Intervention Methods", that I think that in most cases have a "closed
>form", but to "life experiences", within families, schools, communities,
>etc that are "Open" (by nature or construct).
>
>- Secondly, I think that if we only "exchange experiences" we risk to
>never learn new things. I think that all of us try to read subjects that
>are being published and can be useful or, on the contrary, are useless.
>As no one can read everything, I would like if summaries (and not only
>references) are sent to the list and eventually discussed, namely new books
>on consultation, or chaos theory, or complex systems theory or, on the
>contrary, against system theory. (for example - it is useless for me to now
>that some authors are now contradicting systems theory, as I don't have
>the time to read everything - I would prefer to read a post explaining What
>are they saying, Why are they against, and are they right or not?). So
>more exchange of information and debate on "theory" would be welcome.
>And I think that a community is much more rich and ALL participants
>will profit if more people does research and creation that if only some
>people do that.
>
>- Thirdly, I think it is the time to go beyond the type of help we all try
>to give to each other and, in this list or in more restricted forums, try
>to organise more "organic" ways of collaborating with each other. I think
>the training that "Harrison and colleagues" are giving is one step
>in this way. But I can imagine other steps. For instance, many of us
>have companies or are "doing business as" - why not creating other
>partnerships crossing states, or countries, or continents?
>
>- And (the last point, I promise...), I think that Open Space will dye if
>it continues to be "American (continent) only"; and I am quite concerned
>that other foruns are being created in national languages that don't report
>their discussions to this international forum and conduct people to have
>less time to this one.
>
>In these global days I don't believe in any movement that is country
>centred (or continent centred). I know (if I know...) how difficult it
>is for a non-English speaker to participate in discussions in English,
>but after Berlin I would expect this list to be by now much less
>American-only than it is. "World wide" is the only way I can think
>of true Open Space. I have no solution pre-prepared for that - only
>the concern...
>
>Best wishes for all
>
>Artur
>
>*
>*
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