My reflections on the Goa OSonOS (longish)

[Phil Culhane]

Oh my gosh. Harrison - full circle? You (the global "you" - not you personally) held a
conference and people found the best conversations and information at the coffee breaks?
Time for perhaps another couple martinis by the pool? One might expect the boundaries of
OS to get pushed at an OSonOS - is that what was meant to happen?

I know that there was an OSonOS in GOA...what was the intention everyone was to bring
with them? What was the central theme that brought everyone there? It sounds (reads) to
me as though some people went expecting an OS, and what they actually got when they
arrived was more of a family reunion.

People come together for lots of reasons - what was the reason that brought everyone to
Goa? What questions did they bring their passions there to answer? Was it an OS, or was
it a family reunion??

My apologies in advance if there was a clear major theme and I overlooked it, simply due
to my not being able to attend.

Best wishes,
Phil Culhane


>   ----- Original Message -----
>
>   From: Alexander Kjerulf
>
>   To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>
>   Sent: Monday, October 04, 2004 11:34 AM
>
>   Subject: My reflections on the Goa OSonOS (longish)
>
>
>
>
>
>   Hi
>
>
>
>   I just got back from India, and here are my reflections on this years
>
>   OSonOS.
>
>
>
>   First of all there were lots of things I enjoyed about the OSonOS:
>
>
>
>       * I met some wonderful people, some for the first time; some again
>
>       * The place was absolutely wonderful - See for yourself, I posted
>
>         some pictures here: http://www.positivesharing.com/Goa
>
>       * I had many great and inspiring conversations outside of the sessions
>
>       * And best of all, we (the Happy at Work Project) may now have a
>
>         shot at creating the Happy at Work Project, India
>
>
>
>   BUT :-)
>
>
>
>   Those of you who were there know that I was frustrated with the
>
>   conference itself. This was also true at last years event in Denmark
>
>   (the first OSonOS I attended) but at that time I chose not to express it.
>
>
>
>   During the evening news on the second day, I presented my observations
>
>   on what frustrated me. I realize of course that these are only my
>
>   experiences. Other people may have (and indeed did have) totally
>
>   different experiences. Anyway, here's what frustrated me at the OSonOS:
>
>   *Not much listening.* People seemed more eager to speak than to listen.
>
>   *Not much depth.* Few conversations achieved any real depth, since many
>
>   comments didn't seem to build on what was said earlier in the conversation.
>
>   *Too large groups.* Many (most?) groups had 10 - 20 people in them,
>
>   which of course makes deep conversation and listening more difficult.
>
>   For my taste, I prefer groups with at most 8 people.
>
>   *Too much weird stuff.* Every day of the OSonOS opened with singing,
>
>   chanting, laughter exercises and other "weird stuff" :-) . I have
>
>   nothing against that in itself (and indeed use some of it once in a
>
>   while), but it didn't really add to my experience.
>
>   *Experienced OS'ers don't seem open to input*. The experienced OS people
>
>   in the crowd were wonderfully willing to share their experiences, but
>
>   seemed less willing to listen to new ideas.
>
>   *Evening circle takes too long*. The evening circle went on for a long
>
>   time - too long in my opinion.
>
>
>
>   I say this without any intention of blame or indictment. Please also
>
>   remember that this kind of thing always looks worse in worse in writing.
>
>   And as I said at the conference, I only say this, because I think the OS
>
>   community can deal with it, and should be given a chance to do so -
>
>   rather than just me dealing with it on my own by not coming to any more
>
>   OSonOS'es.
>
>
>
>   The paradox here is, that all the conversations I had outside of the
>
>   sessions really made my coming there worthwhile, so my time there was
>
>   certainly not wasted. It's just that I KNOW that OS conversations can be
>
>   so much more than what I saw at both this and last years OSonOS'es.
>
>
>
>   Now, I'm not going to throw something like this out there, without also
>
>   thinking about what we can do about it, and so we did a session on that
>
>   on the third day. We saw some ideas brewing as to what we could do to
>
>   improve the OSonOS, while at the same time maintaining (and maybe even
>
>   strengthening) all the good things the OSonOS does for the OS community
>
>   already. This is not about revolution, it's about taking an appreciative
>
>   approach to what already works in the OSonOS, and how we can build on that.
>
>
>
>   But before we start that, there should be some sort of buy-in from the
>
>   OS community. If the prevailing mood is, that "the OSonOS is fine, don't
>
>   mess with it", then we'll leave it at the. If the mood is "The OSonOS is
>
>   fine, let's make it even more fine", then we might start with an
>
>   appreciative inquiry right here on the list - I'd be happy to get it going.
>
>
>
>   What do you think?
>
>
>
>   Cheers
>
>
>
>   Alex
>
>
>
>   --
>
>   Alexander Kjerulf
>
>   alexander at kjerulf.com
>
>   http://www.positivesharing.com
>
>
>
>   +45 2688 2373
>
>   Tagensvej 126, lejl. 613
>
>   2200 København N

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

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist