what's in a word?
Michael M Pannwitz
mmpanne at boscop.de
Tue Dec 6 14:34:50 PST 2005
Dear Jean-Pierre Beaulieu,
the name of this thread is "what's in a word?".
Well, a lot, it seems to me.
Do these "names" for the one that "holds time and space" not only tell
something of the culture but also the personal style and the concept and
philosophy around this activity?
And what about the understanding of for instance "animateur" when used
within German. Its the person in charge of getting people on an ocean
cruise into a good mood or involved in playful stuff...
To me, I certainly do not and can not and aim not to give life to a
group or community...especially since I experience groups and
communities as having plenty of life. I have seen colleagues introduce
open space technology and "walk with the group" that are pretty calm,
quiet, low-key...and have seen those groups selforganize in no time flat
be very productive and collaborative with high play and high learning.
And I have seen groups suffering under the various ways of icebreaking,
get to know each other activities, etc. that others exercise...
So what does it take of the one that holds time and space if not "ardor
and energy", if not "animation", if not "moderation", if not "facilitation"?
Greetings from Berlin
mmp
PS: On the last day of the 3 day Practice of Peace event I had the
privilege of introducing os to the group, I did it wíthout speaking the
words. Seemed to work. I wonder how people in the group experienced that
(the first day Harrison did the introduction in English, the second day
Anna Gochtchinskaja in Russian which was understood as far as the words
were concerned by one third of the group...).
Jean-Pierre Beaulieu wrote:
> The question of wording related to OS is an interesting one.
> As for facilitate or monitor, there is a word we use in French apart
> from "faciliter" and that is "animer". And the one who "anime" is an
> "animateur" which according to the dictionnary is someone who give life
> to a group or a community through his ardor and his energy. So that
> is what I do when I "faciltiate" an OS event or a Future Search,
> "j'anime"...
> Regards from Montréal
> Jean-Pierre Beaulieu
>
> -----Message d'origine-----
> *De :* OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]*De la part de*
> PeeJee Bee
> *Envoyé :* 6 décembre 2005 11:32
> *À :* OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> *Objet :* Re: what's in a word?
>
> Hi OpenSpaceNics (acronym OSN's - is that how we addicts call
> ourselves?)
>
> I'm new in this space - the OSLIST! I was initiated - as a regular
> participant - to Open Space in Zambia in the mid 90's during a
> 'dare-to-share-fair' initiated by GTZ GmbH. A second time, I "sold"
> and "facilitated" some Open Space during another
> 'dare-to-share-fair' at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
> probably in the late 90's. Then in 2001 I actually organized and
> "facilitated" a plus/minus 60 participants Open Space on creative
> ideas for gender mainstreaming in the water sector of South Africa.
>
> What's in a word? I would be curious to hear from other OSN's, also
> maybe working in other than the English and German language, what
> they see themselves do: facilitating, accompanying, moderating... !
> I will be working in French next weekend in Dakar!
>
> I think the most valuable part of this discussions on semantics is
> the explanation we do on what we understand by the term we use,
> wouldn't you say so? I mean the issue even more complex, because as
> Harrison explained to us 2 weeks ago in Bologna, Open Spaces can be
> run in different ways and for different purposes and over different
> time-spans. All these factors and the contract with the client, I
> believe, influence the way we run an Open Space as OSN.
>
> So we could also use other terms, like I have done above: running an
> Open Space ;-)
>
> I havn't really made up my mind on what term I would prefer to use.
> I tend to use 'facilitate', because I see myself as the one that
> makes it possible to participate in an Open Space. In other words I
> make it facile (French for easy).
> To moderate an Open Space, would probably also be the word most used
> in the Dutch language (so similar to what is common in German
> speaking countries).
> Begleiten: reminds me of accompanying a child or a lady. It has
> connotations of helping a weaker person. So I'm not convinced about
> that term, because I feel participants in an Open Space I facilitate
> are on par with me, not 'weaker' or 'less equiped'.
>
> Look forward to active participation in the OSLIST.
>
> Peter (based in Milano, working in various so called 'developing'
> countries, mainly in the water sector)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] *On Behalf Of
> *Erich Kolenaty
> *Sent:* 06 December 2005 11:23
> *To:* OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> *Subject:* Re: OS newbie here
>
> Hi friends in Open Space,
>
> the truth is, that Michael himself deserves the honor for fighting
> for years to make the difference between "begleiten" and
> "moderieren" common between germanspeaking openspacenics.
>
> And I really agree with him: "Begleiten" much more points out that
> the main power at work is the selforganization and not the
> facilitators commands. And this helps creating a more appropriate
> picture WHO is doing WHAT.
>
> Warmly from rainy Vienna
>
> Erich
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Michael M Pannwitz <mailto:mmpanne at boscop.de>
> *To:* OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> <mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, December 06, 2005 2:05 AM
> *Subject:* Re: OS newbie here
>
> I love this one, Tree.
> Its been quite a struggle to find an alternative to "facilitate"
> in German.
> People here are often infatuated with english/american words and
> just
> use such words as "facilitate" or "facilitation" which dont mean
> a thing
> to "regular" folks even though they might be pretty familiar
> with english.
> In German the word for the activity people are involved in when
> they
> lead a structured exercise is "moderieren", you can recognize it
> by the
> heavy activity on part of the "moderator". When "facilitate" is
> used it
> is often with the intent to convey that it is not "moderieren"
> but gives
> more space to the group.
> The word that is now widely used by os-workers here to describe
> holding
> time and space is "begleiten" which means as much as
> "accompanying" or
> "going along with you" or "walking with you on the same path".
> It is
> different enough from the commonly used "moderieren" to give a
> hint to
> the difference.
> Another detail in this scheme is to me to point out that the
> "Begleiter"
> focuses one holding time and space (which I know when I see it
> but can
> describe it) while the sponsor opens the space.
> There have been voices on this listserve about the terminology
> and what
> words are being used in different languages. I would love to
> hear more
> about this.
> Greetings from Berlin
> mmp
>
> Tree Fitzpatrick wrote:
>
> >
> > Another thought: I am not quite sure that holding space as
> an open
> > space practitioner is facilitation. There is, at least I
> think there
> > is, an important difference between holding space for strategic
> > planning and facilitating a strategic planning process.
>
> *
> *
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