New member introduction

Mon Dec 12 12:02:12 PST 2005

KEvin:

I love this listserv: all the interesing people to meet!

I'm writing now particularly in the  hope that you'll check out <uspartnership.org> - and consider
adding your voice, and your OSP and Sustainable Development expertise, to the U.S. partnership for
the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

This is the US response to the UN Decade that was launched just last March - and initially
introduced to the UN by the Japanese.  The Partnership's international liaison, Will Duggan (contact
info on uspartnership.org site), can give you some contact names for Japanese participants in the
Decade - might be a good way to meet like-minded people.

I sparked to your message also because my son lives in Tokyo and I have very much enjoyed visiting
him.  I'm also in conversation with the Grundtvig Society of Japan, a network of school teachers and
community educators who have links with the Nordic folk schools [N.S.F. Grundtvig was the renegade
Lutheran bishop whose educational philosophy sparked the folk school movement in mid-19th century
Scandinavia]. 

I don't know if you encountered folk schools during your time in sweden, but they have been a quiet
yet remarkable catalyst for community-based democracy-related learning for over 150 years. If you'd
like me to send you the japanese contact information for the Grundtvig Society.

All the best - Patricia Haines, Level Green Institute, ithaca, NY
----- Original Message -----
From: Kevin Cameron <kevin at kevincameron.net>
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Sent:         Mon, 12 Dec 2005 20:41:26 +0900
Subject: New member introduction

> Hello Space Openers.  I am a new member of the list, and I tend to tire 
> people on other lists I belong to with my questions, so be forewarned ;)
> 
> I am American, but currently living in Tokyo where I have just returned 
> to after a graduate program Sweden about Sustainable Development (based 
> on the Natural Step -in case anyone knows that, and many of you seem to 
> be from Canada so I am guessing some do).  What left the greatest 
> impression on me while I was in Sweden was actually the first two days 
> in which we participated in a small (40 people) open space meeting with 
> the goal of writing a 40 person report about what we, as a class, 
> expected to get out of this program, and how we intended to go about 
> getting it out.  I was amazed at how we produced such a high-quality 
> paper with everyone's approval in only two days. I was also fascinated 
> by the way that people who were interested in details such as the format 
> naturally got together to decide that (the kind of stuff I, as a 
> "dreamer" could care less about) and the dreamers like me got together 
> to discuss the "bigger" issues, and there were groups of in-betweeners 
> and bumblebees who brought us all together.
> 
> Anyway, it was amazing and fascinating.
> 
> Several months ago, as I was trying to figure out what is next after 
> getting my degree, and I had fantasies of doing *something*, *anything* 
> based on Open Space.
> 
> In the mean time, real-life happened, and now that I am back in Tokyo I 
> have started working for a small sustainability consultancy, and just 
> this weekend helped host a workshop that was planned long before I came. 
>   Although everything went well, I couldn't help but imagine how much 
> more productive an open space would have been.  Put aside how much more 
> fun it would have been, it would have also given the participants a much 
> greater feeling of ownership of the finished product, rather than us 
> listening to them and then writing up the deliverables as *we* (the 
> facilitators) thought was best.
> 
> This got me thinking again (more than ever) about open space.
> 
> And now my questions.
> 
> 
> 1) Aside from just "doing it" (I already have some plans in the works to 
> start some open space fun either with or without my new company) What is 
> the best way to go about getting a crash course in this?  I have only 
> participated in the one two day meeting, but would love to experience 
> more, bigger open spaces, hopefully learning more about it. My web 
> searches have turned up one Open Space practitioner here in Japan, and I 
> will certainly be contacting them, but I am also wondering about some 
> "training courses" or rather, places where I can sit in on a real 
> meeting, but also have a chance to chat open space talk with other 
> facilitators.
> 
> 2) I have been reading many of the blogs and websites of people I assume 
> are on this list, so I am getting a vague idea, but what did you all do 
> before you got into Open Space? What was your specialty? What is your 
> background? What do you do now? How often do you facilitate meetings? 
> What kind of clients? What other types of things do you do "on the job"?
> 
> Anyway, that is enough for today. I'm sure I will have more questions soon.
> 
> Cheers,
> Kevin Cameron
> http://www.bastish.net
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/bastish/
> 
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that can." - Margaret Mead

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