our website in Chinese

Wed Jun 11 11:45:48 PDT 2003

In a message dated 6/11/03 10:12:49 AM, artsilva at mail.eunet.pt writes:

<< I am glad they have conserved OST and not made an acronym with Chinese
caracters ;-)
 >>

Actually, Artur, it would be more consistent with your earlier point about
Latin languages if they had used Chinese characters.

My 2 cents' worth

Joelle

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

>From  Wed Jun 11 11:46:29 2003
Message-Id: <WED.11.JUN.2003.114629.0700.>
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 11:46:29 -0700
Reply-To: chris at chriscorrigan.com
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Chris Corrigan <chris at chriscorrigan.com>
Subject: Re: About the next OSonOS and the OS site - the quest for a
 "global OS"
In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.0.20030610211557.026934a0 at pop.kpnqwest.pt>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Artur:

I think OS gets around because people use it.  There is no head office
out there, ensuring that it happens in certain places in certain ways,
to cover the globe.  It has appeared in different places simply because
people have invited it to appear there.

In fact, as I have just been writing about Ken Wilber, what strikes me
is that this is a depth/span conversation.  We often confuse depth with
span, thinking that more of something is equivalent to deeper
somethings.

The broad span of Open Space Technology practice has resulted in the
process being used in all kinds of places and languages and cultures.
But the deep practice of the process has meant that people use it in all
these different places rarely BECAUSE it somehow contributes to the
global reach or diverse application of the process.  As Harrison Said,
it is used because it works, that's all.  And the deeper it is used, the
deeper it works.

Organizational, cultural and global transformation I think happens along
the depth axes, not the span axes.  There is no guarantee that a broad
spread of a meme will result in a transformative event.  But my
experience seems to bear out to me that deep practice, even among a few
people, is what really matters.

Working with OST has taught me much in my life, but it all comes down to
invitation, passion and responsibility.  If you invite people (including
ourselves) to take responsibility for their passion, cool things happen.

Chris

---
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Bowen Island, BC, Canada
http://www.chriscorrigan.com
chris at chriscorrigan.com

(604) 947-9236

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Artur
Ferreira da Silva
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2003 4:58 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: About the next OSonOS and the OS site - the quest for a "global
OS"

Dear friends:

Some weeks ago in a private e-mail conversation with a colleague he told
me, in a marginal comment, that "OST is mainly an American thing".  I
have
not commented that observation but I have been thinking about it... And
there is one thing I am sure: many of us that are non-American and
non-English-speakers are guilty of OST being still considered mainly "an
American thing".

Eiwor's message today about the registration process for OSonOS in
Denmark,
conducted me to see what I could find about that event on the web. The
only
thing that I could discover was a page in the OSworld site, in English,
with an invitation - also in English-only. I have also been seeing the
new
Wiki look of the web site, namely of the English-language part of it.
Congratulations Michael, it's really wonderfull. And I also remember
seeing
a message in this list about the need for a French version of some
material
related with next OSONOS.

Before I make any other comments, let me begin with a self-critique. I
am
guilt of not having offered yet a Portuguese translation of the
invitation
and also of not having had yet the time to learn a bit more about "wiki
publishing" and begin contributing more to the OSW site - which I think
that anyone of us can do in his own language. Is that correct Michael
(Herman, not one the other angels out there)?

Let me go back a bit in the past, and recall my personal experience with
the OS community. After being lurking in this list for more than one
year,
I saw a message announcing OSONOS in Berlin that I attended. I will not
repeat what I felt there - that I have shared with this list and is in
the
Archives  - but only some observations and thoughts that I have not
shared.

The first thing I have noticed in Berlin is that, apart from people from
German (or German speaking countries) and some from the Nordic countries
(more used to English), the presence of Europeans was almost zero. Zero
from France, Italy, Greece and the francophone part of Belgium, two from
Spain (working for a multinational company, German if I recall well), 1
from Portugal (myself), a few (surprisingly few) from UK. Apart from
Germany, USA, Canada (mainly the English speaking part) and Australia
were
well represented. On the other hand, the attempt to create after Berlin
a
European chapter (non German, that already had one) of the community
didn't
work.

Back home I have noticed that the OSworld site was in English-only and
have
suggested that translations, at least of the Intro, should be made (by
volunteers). In fact, as some of you may recall, the first non English
Intro was the Portuguese one - and others followed. For some time this
look
a global multinational site. That's no longer true, as the English
speaking
part evolved brilliantly and the others didn't.

[Let me clarify something that I don't know if I have expressed before.
I
am convinced that the OS community will never spread consistently in
Greek
and Latin Europe (except in what refers to the practice of some American
expacts) unless there are translations of many materials in all the
European languages, including invitations in all those languages at
least
for the OSONOS's organized in Europe - that should be distributed
through
national lists and sites of those countries.

In fact, I also think that the main problem of the current Empire, and
of
the majority of the English-speaking people (including in the UK) to
spread
their practices is their inability to understand that the world (and
especially Europe) is multilingual and that a French, or Italian or
Spanish
(from Spain) considers rude and inadequate the fact that some one talks
to
him in his own country in a foreign language.  And it is even worst if
that
language is the language of the Empire.

Now, the next OSONOS will be held in Europe. Is this an event mainly
directed to all that have been in the previous OSONOS, adding some
people
from Denmark and Sweden - but still being mainly a Northern event (that
also includes for that purpose the "opposite" English-speaking South)?

Or shall we profit from this opportunity to extend to the south the
scope
of the OS community. beginning with the southern Europe languages and
regions or even, eventually, trying to involve Africa?

What I can offer as a contribution to make my dream come true is:

(1) A translation into Portuguese of the invitation to OSONOS-Svenmark
for
publication in the OSW site (or any other) if that is requested to me by
the organizers
(2) The distribution of that translation in some Portuguese mailing
lists
(3) A translation of a short summary of the invitation in French and
Spanish and the distributions to Spanish and French lists (if natives of
those languages don't offer themselves).
(4) After September a more regular participation in the OSwolrd wiki,
creating more Portuguese pages.

Are there any others willing to offer contributions to make OSONOS in
Svenmark a really "global event" and not only an "English event also
offered to some countries that accept the English"?

Regards

Artur

PS: For OST, "being global" is NOT to be in every continent. It Is to be
develloped in any region in their own language. In my opinion, only then
the needed global diversity will be obtained....

PPS: and this ends my messages during the holiday

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html