A question about OS listserv

Harrison Owen hhowen at comcast.net
Sun Jan 9 05:19:05 PST 2005


Interesting questions! (And most delightful questioners)

 

What has enabled the Open Space listserv to flourish?

 

Plenty of space (no arbitrary restrictions, managers, moderators – fully
self-organizing). Lots of passion – people really care about what they ask
and how they respond. Genuine responsibility – guess what? Real Open Space.
If nothing else, there is real integrity here. We walk our talk. 

In what ways has the listserv helped the Open Space community of practice to
evolve?

 

In just about every way you can think of. Absent OSLIST and I think you
would have excised the manifest heart and soul of the operation.

 

In what ways has it affected you and your own practice to evolve?

 

More ways than I can count or even think of – from the very
practical/mechanical like how to enable convergence. I still like voting :-)
-- and I have certainly employed have employed all the other approaches that
have made an appearance here. At the other end are the theoretical and
spiritual inquiries. I expect that my mind eventually would have settled on
Self-Organization as a most interesting area for contemplation, but that
interest certainly took wings here on OSLIST.

 

What wishes do you have for the list's future?

 

More of the same and better. At least until it is over. And when it’s over
it’s over. Some years ago somebody asked me what my hopes were for Open
Space. I said I hoped it became something like Accounting – something that
everybody did (at least in a cash economy) – although some did it better
than others. At this point, Accounting is not all that remarkable. It is
just something you do. When Open Space Technology is no longer remarkable,
strange or different – just something people do, I guess we may have done
our job. Although as I think about it, my Accounting friends do seem to
spend a lot of time thinking and talking about how to do it different and
better. So maybe we are in this for the longer haul? No matter, it sure has
been fun to this point, and I would anticipate more of the same. And when I
am not having fun any more, I guess I am out of here. 

 

Thanks Peggy and Juanita 

 

 

ho 

 

 

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive

Potomac, Maryland   20845

Phone 301-365-2093

Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com <http://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 Peggy
Holman
Sent: Saturday, January 08, 2005 6:44 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: A question about OS listserv

 

Friends,

 

I was on the phone with Juanita Brown this morning (our first meeting).  No
doubt many of you know of her; she is the creator of the World Cafe
(http://www.theworldcafe.com/).  It was love at first conversation for me as
I heard so much compatibility with why I love Open Space expressed in her
stories about the World Cafe.

 

Apparently, she has heard about the OS list from several colleagues
(including the irresistible Alan Stewart).  She asked me what I thought
makes it work (actually, she asked this much more beautifully but I'm saving
her wording for you below).  I believe her interest derives from wishing to
create a similar resource for the World Cafe community.  I suggested she
pose her question to the list itself.  As I ponder my own response, her
questions seemed perfect for the new year -- a moment to reflect on what
makes this list such a gift, what it has meant to you as an individual and
to us as a community.  Here are Juanita's questions, with a couple I've
added inspired by her inquiry:


What has enabled the Open Space listserv to flourish?

In what ways has the listserv helped the Open Space community of practice to
evolve?

 

And I would add:

In what ways has it affected you and your own practice to evolve?

 

What wishes do you have for the list's future?


I'll forward responses to Juanita every few days.  I've encouraged her to
sign up and see for herself, so we may all soon have the pleasure of her
company.  In any case, I look forward to learning, once again, from all who
are attracted to this inquiry.

 

>From snowy Seattle,

Peggy

 


________________________________
Peggy Holman
The Open Circle Company
15347 SE 49th Place
Bellevue, WA  98006
(425) 746-6274 

 

www.opencirclecompany.com

_______________________________________
The World Café
Living Knowledge Through Conversations That Matter
 <http://www.theworldcafe.com> http://www.theworldcafe.com 

To subscribe to the World Café listserv send an email to:
 <mailto:theworldcafe-request at communityfrontiers.com>
theworldcafe-request at communityfrontiers.com 
Type the word Subscribe in the subject line of your message



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