baskets, containers, sponsorship, & the quality of the space

[Harrison Owen]

Chris W. Wrote:

"What DOES matter to me very much (as you can tell) is the quality of the
space.  I hope that the list remains a space that moves toward wholeness,
which is impossible if the space is not wide open to vulnerability and
passion.  A space where a person can plop down on the sidewalk, shed some
tears, and receive comfort.  If the list is like an OST event (or even more
so, an Open Space Organization), then we need to know who's the sponsor,
who's the facilitator, and how the very real responsibilities of these roles
are carried and made manifest among us."

Chris -- Nice to see you back online. We missed you. And as always, your
thoughts and comments are acute and provocative. The quality of the
cyberspace we inhabit is indeed critical, and I think it might be useful to
point out a few of the "givens" that have nothing to do with any present or
past inhabitants of OSLIST. Basic amongst these is the fact that we are all
operating on the InterNet (Perhaps the biggest Open Space going)using an
old, but very useful technology, the LISTSERVE -- all of which is sponsored
and supported by Boise State University, a public institution.

The InterNet itself is (depending on your point of view) a feast of
interaction or totally out of control. I think both are true and mutually
causative. Efforts to date, taken under the heading of "controlling the
InterNet" have been wonderfully ineffective. Bill Gates to the contrary,
nobody is in charge, nor will they ever be, at least until that day when the
plug is pulled and the last computer screen goes dark. At that point, the
InterNet will be under control. It will also be dead. There is, however, one
element of control available to every cybernaut. You can play -- or not
play. But the moment you enter the game, you are in play.

The particular vehicle we have used to this point, the LISTSERVE, is
probably the oldest, simplest, and least sophisticated wagon in Cyberville.
I can't claim to have made a careful study of this, but having been on the
InterNet for more than 20 years, back to the old days of DOS TEXT, that is
my memory. The Listserve is essentially an automated email service. It does
no more or less than what every user does when the hit "Reply All." This
makes it very good for simple mass distribution, but a real clunker when it
comes to fine tuning the distribution (editing, deleting, grouping
messages.) This has been our vehicle of choice. And it was a choice.

Several years ago, how many I can't remember, I made what I thought was a
valiant effort to wean folks from the LISTSERVE and move into something more
sophisticated. There were a number of possibilities, but the best one at the
time in my judgment was a family of programs all running a software called
Caucus. This is real conferencing software where the level of individual
control is greatly enhanced. Each person can edit or delete any message they
have ever posted. And the conference does have a G.O.D (Game overall
Director) who can do all of the above all by him or her self. We in fact did
use Caucus for a period. Actually, we ran simultaneously on both Caucus and
the Boise LISTSERVE. Then the choice was made in the most democratic fashion
possible. People voted with their feet, and Caucus went out of favor. It
still exists if you care to see it. Check out www.tmn.com You will be asked
to register (Its Free) and then look for the OpenSpace conference.

So here we all are on OSLIST, after all these years. As I've said, it is
pretty clunky, but its major redemptive factor is that it works. It may even
be too stupid to break except last summer when something happened. Judging
from my in basket, the howls that went up were not unlike a drug addict
being cut off from his/her supply and being forced to go cold turkey. But
OSLIST revived, thanks to Michael and some others. The givens are simple. If
you post something it will automatically go to everybody, all over the
world. And once your message is out on the InterNet, there is no place it
can't go. Just kiss it good by and wish it well. You can't change it. You
can't get it back. And you surely can't tell all those anonymous somebodies
that they can't change it or use it. It's gone, Baby. Oh yes -- the infamous
Archive. The fact of the matter is that a number of folks on OSLIST that I
know of have archived all the materials ever posted -- all by themselves. So
even if Boise State had done nothing (and frankly I am delighted that they
did what they did) the genie would still be out of the bottle. The whole,
bloody, wonderful, glorious, stupid, maudlin, insightful, poetic, peevish,
fantastic genie is out of the bottle.

As one who has contributed as much or more to this list as anybody (and some
of my contributions were ill-advised, stupid, not to say embarrassing), I
say Go for It! And the reason is simple. I cannot think of any community of
folks (most of whom are unknown to me) that I enjoy more or have learned
more from. The benefits so far outweigh the costs as not even to fit on the
same page of the ledger.

Harrison



Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, Maryland   20845
Phone 301-365-2093

Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of chris
weaver
Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2004 8:17 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: baskets, containers, sponsorship, & the quality of the space

(This is a re-send of my previous post (Open Space/Open List...) with a new
subject-line for easier tracking - thank you.)

Dear OSLIST Community,

I am enthralled.  This thread is connecting deeply with my intellectual and
emotional passion.  Both the specific list-related issues at hand and the
window into deeper learning are important to me.  I notice as well how much
I care about the people who are posting, and how much I care about so many
of the people who are "listening."  I am grateful to be conscious anew of
your presence in my life (via the magic of this list).

Let me weave a basket - a context-container for looking at the discussion
sparked by the open-archives issue (including my witnessing this morning of
my friend Michael Herman finding himself in the HOT SEAT!)  Needless to say,
this is not the only possible basket.  It's mine - many people's branches,
my morning weaving :-)

Christine wrote,
> I've always considered this listserv as one giant open space, with the
same
principles and law as any OST event.

This outlines the shape of my basket.  Maybe the list is like an OST event,
maybe it's not.  Let's pretend it is.

Chris Mcrae wrote,
> as someone who knows what goes on at least 100 listserves, yours is the
most
interesting, practical, communal, caring and open.

As a metaphor for an aspect of this, Ashley Cooper wrote,
> can you imagine walking down the street (googling) and then just finding
yourself in this community. that would be amazing! i think that i would
immediately plop down on the street and start crying. someone like julie
smith would walk over and put her arms around me and... i'd know that the
dream was real.

So:  the OSLIST is an uncommon virtual space, just as an OST event, opened
and held with skill and care, provides an uncommon space - uncommonly
responsive, inviting, creative.  To my way of thinking:  like being inside
-- a holographically-connected member of -- a healthy living organism.

The reason I raised the question of how a healthy living system cares for
itself is that in my experience, a healthy living system has a container, or
a skin.  As noted in the wonderful responses, the skin is highly permeable -
health depends on the thriving connection between the encoded information
"within" the system and "outside" the system.  I would assert that, while
close scientific or mystical examination reveals "within" and "outside" to
be an illusion, the PRACTICE of skin, of containers, of definition of and
translation across boundaries, is a requirement for taking part in the Big
Dance.

All my EXPERIENCE with OST and Open Space Organizations has been less about
the removal of boundaries and more about a highly rigorous engagement with,
experimentation with, and honoring of boundaries.  In practice, this means
working with the givens.

So.  In an OST event, who determines the givens?  In my experience of best
practice, the givens are discovered and creatively articulated in
conversation between the facilitator and the sponsor.  The sponsor, through
his/her connection with the community being served/invited, articulates the
givens, which join the OST principles/law/method to form the skin for the
event - the container.

The quality of what HAPPENS in the space is deeply influenced by the
clarity, elegance, intention of the container that defines it.

So, there's the basket.

As for Michael Herman in the hot seat:  It appears to me that you are
feeling the heat that sponsors, and sometimes facilitators, feel when
participants in an OST request (and demand) clarity about the givens, and
when they ask questions about who determines the givens, why, and through
what authority.

In your words Michael, one thing I hear is that you are reluctant to own the
role of sponsor or facilitator of the OSLIST.  I can imagine why.  You never
signed up (Hey, I'm just the volunteer tech guy!)

But the reality that you have made some decisions about the skin of the
OSLIST and its permeability is clear.  You, and the list administrators at
Boise State, are tinkering with some givens.  A number of people on the list
are saying, "No problem, it doesn't matter to me, I like the container,
maximum permeability is desirable - go forth and do good!"

Yet there are other voices too, which to me all arise from the legitimate
desire of participants to have a clear understanding of, and perhaps a say
in, the givens - the very practical elements of our container.  Therese has
suggested that list participants be technically empowered to delete specific
postings from the archives.  Marei has requested that archives be closed for
now and that a participatory decision-making process be employed for
conisdering the accessibility of the archives and also the FAQs.  Birgitt
has requested clarity on who is making decisions and taking actions that
alter the givens, and she has claimed authority for her own personal
postings and withdrawn her consent that her words be openly available to
search engines.

To me, these <suggestions, requests, demands> remind me very much of
legitimate concerns often directed at the SPONSOR in an OST event, or at the
organizational leader of an open space oranization (and believe me Michael,
I've been there).  Even if such concerns appear to be a "minority opinion,"
if the sponsor simply brushes them off or ignores them, there is a
resounding effect on the quality of the space, which can include a partial
closing of the space.

Thus, the awkwardness of the current circumstance.

Based on my experience with Open Space, the quality of the space of the
OSLIST from this moment on will indeed be influenced by our shared clarity
on the question of WHO'S THE SPONSOR?  WHO'S THE FACILITATOR?  In other
words, who determines the givens?

It's easy to say that we're all the sponsor and the facilitator.  If that's
the case, then the requests for a participative decision-making process make
a lot of sense.  Some voices have suggested that we don't need such a thing,
it would be cumbersome, it might not even be possible.  There's no doubt
that someone or a group would need to shoulder the responsibility of
designing and managing such a process.

I am going to close this post like a big unanswered question mark, because I
don't have an answer.  But I do have a personal "conclusion" to this very
heart-felt message.

My posting was largely inspired by Marei's, which expresses what I feel very
well.  The container matters.  The container influences * the way we
interact with eachother *  I do believe in trust, and in open sharing.  The
availability of the archives is not an issue of great importance to me (with
the possible exception of my posting in 2001 about using snot to hang
posters on the wall....on the other hand, you should go back and read it!)

What DOES matter to me very much (as you can tell) is the quality of the
space.  I hope that the list remains a space that moves toward wholeness,
which is impossible if the space is not wide open to vulnerability and
passion.  A space where a person can plop down on the sidewalk, shed some
tears, and receive comfort.  If the list is like an OST event (or even
moreso, an Open Space Organization), then we need to know who's the sponsor,
who's the facilitator, and how the very real responsibilities of these roles
are carried and made manifest among us.

With Love,
Chris

PS - I just read your reply Michael to Therese re: Delete Function - Thank
you for your continuing facilitation of collaborative sponsorship!

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