wiki sites and online opening

Sun Aug 3 09:54:36 PDT 2003

hello birgitt, and thank you for your last message.  and hello judi!
 ...to clarify... i did not mean to imply "separate from the community."
 you are right, i think.  that's just not possible.  it is possible,
however, to be un-involved in what is happening in the websites.

if you don't visit the sites, you are largely un-involved in the sites.
 once you do visit, however, you are fully involved.  there is no formal
joining.  there is no password required.  there are no security
checkpoints.  there is no web development skill required.  there is only
passion and responsibility.  they are simple pages that any (english
reader) can view.  what's more, any viewer can click the 'edit' link at
the bottom of almost every page and add/edit the text of those pages.
 no coding required.  just simple english and the ability to click the
'edit' link and the 'save' button when finished.  it's really quite a
marvel.  once you are there, you CAN contribute.  once there, you are
deciding about contributing on every page you view.  you can choose as
consciously or unconsciously as you like.  you can set lots of limits on
your contribution or can jump in with reckless abandon.  once there you
have many choices, in a law of two clicks sort of way.  you ARE in!

at the ORG site... which TELLS stories ABOUT open space... anyone can
read.  anyone can refer others.  anyone can click the 'edit' link at the
bottom of any page and add a bit of text.  That text might be correcting
a misspelling, cleaning up the formatting AND/OR adding a story
soundbite, an ost explanation soundbite, their own contact info, their
own notes and toolbox resources, etc.  There are only a handful of pages
there that are not yet totally open for editing.  These pages hold the
rest of the place together, preserve an easy-to-navigate structure, and
require a higher level of familiarity with that structure to edit them
effectively.  as the number of people with that higher level of
famaliarity and understanding increases, these core pages can be opened
to more editing.

at the NET site... which is intended to SHOW how we work in open space,
by archiving our actions... anyone can use the space to support their
own local group's work in openspace.  anyone can post their
public/community proceedings.  anyone can invite their participants to
post proceedings.  anyone can allow community groups to make their own
ongoing openspace websites WITHIN the osw.net space.   anyone can invite
their participants to manage ongoing action plans and the crafting of
new ost invitations right there in this space.  and as some of us
venture to contribute in this way, all of us can watch and learn and in
some cases perhaps collaborate.  i think this is really quite revolutionary.

at the NET site, it is also possible that we can convene our own
ost-community projects there.   i think this is where the OSONOS
proceedings will be posted this year.  last year's were posted at the
ORG wiki site.  some simultaneous and followup conversatoins were posted
there, as well.  but we need not have a whole conference to make a
community project anymore.  all it takes is an OSLIST invitation
announcement and the starting of a project page at the NET site.

the NetSpaceDevelopment topic is one such community project that i have
started there.  it is both a demonstration and  an active invitation to
others to join directly in the planning and development of the sites
themselves.  this project is my invitation to anyone who wants to deal
with the deeper structure and larger holding of space that is showing up
in the OSW sites.

Artur has already used this space as a springboard to make an Iberian
languages wiki, separate from the others.  John Engle is doing a
separate HaitianCreole wiki.  Both are posting technical and other
questions in the NET site, where they can be answered and also recorded
for those who will later make French and German and Swedish and who
knows what other ost wiki websites.

the websites have never been separate from the community and
non-involvement in them certainly does not separate anyone from the
largest community of ost friends and leaders and practitioners.  the
websites ARE, however, moving closer to the whole community, now
rivalling the openness (but not the life and function of) the OSLIST.
 what we are wanting everyone to see clearly here is that this new
websites openness is possible, is invited, AND is still voluntary.  it
is important to notice that non-attendance in the sites work is very
different from non-democracy.

the sites are being shaped by those who show up in them.  only those who
show up are really able to understand how the sites work.  by showing
up, they learn how to implement their suggestions directly, for
themselves.  they also learn to understand and appreciate the history
and existing structures that hold the sites together.  this
understanding and appreciating, technical skill and personal
responsibility, is absolutely essential as our community and websites
continue to unfold.

these questions are all great.  they have helped with the introduction
of the new sites.  they are also a LOT of work to answer and CAN be a
valuable demonstration of how we work -- by passion bounded by
responsibility.  the invitation is to a higher level of responsibility.
 to the extent that some of us are ready, willing and able to post these
questions inside of the NetSpaceDevelopment pages in at
http://www.openspaceworld.net, (to the extent that we are non-separate
from the sites) then we can ask and answer and use these questions to
demonstrate ever more clearly our practice, our process and our
principles.  besides, i'm tired of having so much responsibility for the
growing and maintaining of the sites!  the more people who will come
play, the less work i'll have to do to keep them clean and clear and
inviting.

so jump in if you like!  jump in if you can!  the power of what now can
happen is easier to SEE in the sites than it is to EXPLAIN on the list.
 it is possible to make it happen (directly) in the sites, and quite
impossible to make it happen as long as the development conversation
stays separated out on the list.  EVERYBODY is welcome.

please join us!

michael

Judi Richardson wrote:

>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.
>
>

Michael wrote:

>
>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.
>
>
>
>

--

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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