wiki sites and online opening

Judi Richardson judir at accesswave.ca
Sun Aug 3 07:28:23 PDT 2003


Hello Michael, Birgitt and all,

I have been reading this topic with great interest.  And part of what I read
here stayed with me for a bit and I felt I wanted to respond.  Michael, if I
read this correctly, below you suggest that someone who has chosen not to
join the wiki sites has made a choice to be separate.  That is the part that
sat with me the most.

I love this list and I feel a sense of connectedness with kindred spirits
who are fellow students of organizational development, of participatory
methods, of finding our own ways to support others and supporting each
other.  My days are full of play, fuliflling work, the thrill of
partnership, magical moments, and I don't always chose to log in to several
different sites to see what is going on -- this site is always easy to take
part in, read, surf, and post if we chose to.  That is why this dialogue was
of interest to me, I think, as I feel a sense of loss if some of the most
vocal on this list choose to move some of the delicious dialogue somewhere
else.  I also appreciate some of the virtues of the wiki sites as you have
generously shared with us, as well as the work you've put into them.

I don't see this as anyone being right or wrong.  My view of this group is a
very brave group of people sharing insights, vulnerability, dreams -- high
learning and high play.  I have not taken the time to post to the other
sites and read them to a large degree.  In so doing, I have not chosen to be
separate.  Exactly the opposite, I want what I think most of us here want --
to learn, to listen, to explore, to meet others, to have our thoughts
challenged, to be acknowledged and valued for who we are, to expand out
hearts and minds.

Thanks again for this dialogue and for all the voices on this list -- vocal
and silent!

with kindest regards,
Judi Richardson

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf Of Michael
Herman
Sent: Friday, August 01, 2003 7:26 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: wiki sites and online opening


Dear Birgitt, and all...

I have done my very best to answer your questions about the websites. I
want very much for you and everyone to understand what we are making and
inviting in there. This is why I continue to respond to you here now.
Also, because this is its own kind of opening and I'm willing to dare
working it out on this little stage of ours. I'm not at all sure that's
helpful to everyone on this list, to me, or even to you, but here I go
anyway, taking that chance.

The following statements are direct. This is because you have said a
number of direct and not-so-direct things that are just not true. Again,
I want to be very clear about these things, so that everyone can
understand that they are most welcome to join in what is happening in
the websites.

I am glad to have this conversation continue, but I have asked that it
continue as part of the work of the http://www.openspaceworld.NET
website. If it were part of that site, our writing would necessarily be
shaping that site. It would be part of that record. It would be a
demonstration of how to clarify givens, if that is what we are doing. As
you choose to have it here, you necessarily separate yourself from that
work. Not my choice, but yours, to be separate. To be separate is okay.
To be vocal is okay. To be separate and vocal does nothing to support
the sites, which is what I'm most interested in now.

In continuing here, you have made a number of assumptions and statements
that are not quite correct and might add to any confusion about the
sites. What follows here, in this space you've chosen, is a direct
response to and clarification of those assumptions. I want to say up
front that these statements are not directed at YOU... they are directed
at your assumptions. Perhaps you will not like some of these statements.
Unfortunately, that does not make them less true.

Overall, the thing I am not sure about is this: Are you wanting to know
what IS, or are you wanting to CHANGE what is? I can help you with the
first one, and will work long and hard to do so. Have already. The
second one, however, is beyond me.

All that said, here is the most careful, direct updating of what I know
about these sites. To the extent that you are wanting to know what the
givens are, this may be helpful in updating and clarifying some of your
assumptions. To the extent that you really don't like what the givens
are, I suppose this new reply will continue to confound. I can only hope
you will choose the former. So here goes...

--

1. You have heard clearly that the wiki websites are "like an OST
meeting" but you seem to assume that means that everything about the
site can be managed like you would manage an OST meeting. I disagree.
The websites were likened to an OST meeting, but the actual invitation
was to come and work on a website. All metaphors have limits. That
doesn't make them wrong. It makes them metaphors. I am sorry if this
metaphor isn't as useful for you as we'd hoped it would be. The sites
are like an OST meeting, like OST breakout sessions, like OST
proceedings, like OST invitation, like the Open Space we live in, and
they are totally different, online and ongoing and on display.

2. You say our theme is: "an Open Space for OST practitioners..." This
is not true. The theme and subject of the message was "A Call for
(online) Leaders" and the call was to work on a website that would then
call more leaders. The invitation is to self-selected leaders to come
work and play in a wiki web and in so doing make it more inviting for
others. The invitation is to come unfold an unfolding.

3. You say the right community to discuss the website work IS the
OSLIST. I disagree, and I'm the convener of this one, so it's my right
to name the meeting place and time. The right community to discuss/make
the websites IS that group that IS WILLING to show up IN the sites to do
the work of growing and maintaining the sites. The discussion is not
open to everyone on the list -- the discussion is open to ANYONE on the
list who will visit and post (will do the work) at the site. If you will
not post to the website, then by definition you are not the right people
give it shape. And that is neither good or bad, right or wrong... it
just is. There is much passion for OST and the sites lurking on the
OSLIST... but we run on passion AND responsibility. It is simply not
fair (and is totally inconsistent with our practice) to call the entire
structure of the sites into question if you are not also showing up to
do the work of restructuring. And the surest sign of willingness to show
up, is showing up. It's the responsible thing to do with our passion.

4. You say that you do not use the word practitioner and that our use of
the word in this situation is undemocratic. You imply that this decision
was made by someone with power and that that person is/was not you. I
disagree. You ARE an important leader in this community and it was YOU
who first used the word "practitioner" to describe US... all of US...
way back in 1998. YOU were the first person to EVER post the word
practitioner to the OSLIST.

5. You question the decision by the OSI-US board to fund the site over
the last several years. You imply that you have been left out of that
decision or that others would use power in damaging ways. I disagree.
The OSI board is an open group, elected through self-selection and
showing up for meetings (monthly conference calls and annual meetings at
OSONOS) and doing the work of the board. If you'd have shown up for that
work, you would have been part of those discussions. The funding
question was indeed very open, and now is quite closed. I think it's a
bit tenous for the private owner of OpenSpaceTechnology.COM to start
throwing undemocratic power bricks.

6. You say that you want to go back and explore some other core givens.
I think this is just not possible. Or maybe I am just not interested. I
know I'm not interested in doing on this LIST. What's done is done.
Whatever happens is the only thing that could have. The invitation is to
go forward, from what IS now.

7. You say that you respect that I do not want to continue this here.
And yet I see you do just that. For whatever it's worth, I do not
experience this latest round as respect or blessing. Are you willing to
post a message here that wishes this work well even if it is not what
you want? Are you willing to come join us in the wiki? How can we end
this thread in a way that we both experience as respectful and blessing?

8. You announce (rather loudly, i think) here that you are not going to
participate in the sites. You say this as if that mattered. And, with
all due respect and gratitude for all of your contributing to the OST
story to date, it really doesn't matter if you participate or not.
Anyone can participate and nobody has to. That's what we say. That's the
beauty of what we do. It really doesn't matter if any ONE of us
participates. Something bigger is going on. Everyone is welcome. The
space is open. The law of two feet applies. And of course, if everyone
in an Open Space announced all the sessions they were NOT going to
attend, the meetings would never get started.

9. You say that the greatest weakness of the site is its open structure.
I think you're quite right about this, but HALF right, at best. The open
structure is also its greatest strength and potential. That potential
can only be realized by a community of people who show up there, check
for recent changes, and keep the place tidy in the aftermath of new
users who make little mistakes and of would-be vandals who change
things. I visit the site EVERY DAY... i monitor EVERY CHANGE... if
anyone went in and changed your words, I would see it and I would put it
back. All changes are logged and can be repaired where damage occurs.
There is no risk, but there is also some real work in the monitoring and
maintaining such a dynamic, open site. There is a small group of us now
doing that work. We have invited you and others to help us. To the
extent that others do show up, the site will get bigger and stronger and
more stable and secure. This is why we want you and everyone to show up
and play with us as much as is easy and helpful for them.

What's more, the open structure of the sites is perhaps the best
possible way to SHOW the trust, openess, movement, space, spirit that we
are inviting them into in the meetings we facilitate. And that is really
what the .NET space is about... demonstrating and showcasing this
so-called practice of peace. It's a place for leaders to lead by
example, to show up and invite others to show up too.

Of course, there is some confusion and chaos and even some conflicting
views... all of which is reflected in the uncertainty of how the new
site works and open structures will lead us. I don't claim to know the
answers or the right way. I only know the location:
http://www.openspaceworld.NET. Once again, I will suggest that all of
this is why it is important for you and others to join us in this new
space. Wiki IS like open space in the sense that we can only really
understand it by jumping in. Not everyone needs to jump in. But everyone
is welcome to jump in. And those who do jump in, will learn how it
works. And in the jumping, they also will shape what it is and show the
rest of us more of what is possible.

And so I say again, to you and everyone, the .NET space is open... for
questions, projects, issues, chaos, confusion, conflict, peace, website
development, stories archiving, resource development and anything else
that online leaders will care enough to come and post and create. It's
not a replacement for the OSLIST, nor can it be replaced by conversation
here. It is an opening and deepening and demonstrating of what we are
already doing here AND in our individual work. A number of things
already have begun at http://www.openspaceworld.net. The learning and
contributing and maintaining and shaping are beginning to unfold
together. Unfolding together. I think there must be a poem in that
somewhere.... but I'll leave that part to the laureates among us.

In the meantime, please join us at http://www.openspaceworld.net!

Michael Herman


--

Birgitt wrote:


Dear Michael (Herman) I thank you for your repsonse to my inquiries
about the wiki site at www.openspaceworld.net . I respect that you do
not want to continue this conversation here, and yet it it the OS list
that has been a community to me for 6 years and it is where I choose to
reply to you. If I understand you correctly, you have suggested that the
wiki site is like an OST meeting, you have stated the theme: an Open
Space for OST practitioners and their projects and you have stated that
the givens can be sorted out by participating within the wiki site the
same as you would have your participants sort out the givens within an
OST meeting.

My inquiries on this list came to you because my first response to your
invitation was great excitement, the desire to assist you and the others
involved with this endeavour, the play and this part of the growth of
OST. However, I believe in managing my energy so that I am in a state of
joy as much as possible. And so, I sought clarification about what it is
that I am being invited into.

When I facilitate OST meetings, I too work with my clients to get the
theme right. AND I work with them BEFORE the meeting to get the core
givens "out on the table" and not in the realm of implicit assumptions.
I do this so that people can make an informed decision about what they
are consenting to participate in and to contribute their precious life
force energy to. I think informed consent is important.

And so, I was seeking the theme and the givens from you so that I could
make my decision. If my decision was yes, I would work diligently from
my life force energy. When I work at something I put a lot of me into it.

And so, my choice is to not enter the wiki site (or OST meeting) even
for this discussion because in my mind and heart, I have not yet
accepted the invitation to be there.

So now about the theme. Should I accept the invitation or not based on
the theme? The word "practitioners" in the theme says to me that this
wiki site (OST meeting) is not for me because I do not see myself as a
practitioner. I do not want to be seen by my clients, as someone who is
"practicing". They pay me for working with OST, they pay me for having
knowledge, doing and being. And so the theme of the meeting with the
word "practitioner" stops me from participating. (And in answer to your
question, I do not object to this word being use within the site because
each person within the site works from what they believe in--I simply
struggle with it's use in the theme).

When I asked about this, you replied that it is the accepted word in the
OST community because it has been around since 1999 and no one has
disagreed with it. For me, silence does not mean consent. Nor does it
mean consent that this is now how we as facilitators of OST present
ourselves to the world.

I thought, it would have been more democratic if Michael and those
working on these sites that represent the OST community would have
listed the "givens" they intend to work with/from and given the
community a chance to say, "yes" this is a "given" for us and "no", this
is only an assumption made and it is not valid for us in how we want to
present ourselves to the world.

And then I thought, who is the OST community that would have been the
right one to be in on the discussion. And in my mind, that is the
community of the OST list.

Would we have agreed with
-the word practitioner to represent us
-that the site be funded by OSI US who might now through the funding be
in a position of power with the site that should be representing us all
-the greatest weakness in the site which is that anyone in the world who
is on the internet can go in and change words and any one of us can find
ourselves mis-represented--and maybe even have our mis-represented words
quoted in books and have our professional reputations harmed ?

The majority on the list may have agreed with all of this, but we were
not given the opportunity to express how we wanted to be represented.

IF www.openspaceworld.org and .net were private sites, none of the above
would be a concern to me. But they are not private sites--they are
intended to represent this OST community to the world. Even yesterday,
with the posting that Alan Stewart made about the Faciliator's Master
Journal site, the journal is about OST and the journal directs its 8,000
readers to www.openspaceworld.org as the way to find out about OST.

And so I am wondering Michael if there is still a chance to back this up
a bit, get agreement on the theme and the core givens within the OST
community, and have a democratic process about these very important
websites that you and the others you work with have developed.

Blessings to you and to all with whom you make Genuine Contact, Birgitt

Birgitt Williams of Dalar International Consultancy
www.dalarinternational.com

View the calendar for upcoming training in the Organizational Health and
Balance series of workshops featuring the Genuine ContactÔ program at
http://www.openspacetechnology.com/training.html

We invite you to join the Genuine Contact list serve at
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/genuinecontact

Contact information for Dalar International Consultancy: Po Box 19373,
Raleigh, North Carolina, USA 27619 Raleigh, North Carolina USA Phone:
919-522-7750 Fax: 919-870-6599

As mentors to leaders and organizations we assist you in going beyond
what has been before. We provide inspirational and practical  how to
guidance for leaders who want to achieve healthy and balanced
organizations to produce exciting, tangible results for the organization
and for its people. Our approach is holistic, creating a better future
by tapping into ancient wisdom.

We believe that Spirit matters and people are precious. We know that
organizations incorporating these values have exciting, tangible results
including wealth, prosperity, and abundance. These organizations tend to
their health and balance on a daily basis.


--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
300 West North Avenue #1105
Chicago IL 60610 USA
(312) 280-7838

http://www.michaelherman.com - consulting & publications
http://www.globalchicago.net - laboratory & playground
http://www.openspaceworld.org - worldwide open space

...inviting organization into movement

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