x-posted from AI list- paper surveying dialog tools

Raffi Aftandelian raffi at bk.ru
Fri May 5 21:53:53 PDT 2006


Colleagues,
I saw this message from the Appreciative Inquiry list which gave a
link to a new survey of dialog tools conducted in South Africa. Some
of the usual suspects are there and there are a number of other ones,
too, which I have not heard of before.

I am still on the look out for more attempts at a family tree of large
group intervention tools. Martin Leith had one such family tree up at
one point. It is no longer on the net. Also, just a small
number of lgit's were represented in his family tree.

Best,
Raffi

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 04 May 2006 15:22:20 -0700
From: Bruce Schuman <originresearch at cox.net>
Subject: Re: [Ailist] Appreciative Inquiry and Theology/Spirituality
To: ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
Message-ID: <7.0.1.0.2.20060504101117.03d4b1b8 at cox.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Thanks for these interesting and constructive replies.  I did receive 
a few private comments that were also very encouraging, suggesting 
that I do continue with some kind of "formal research" into the 
correlations or affinities between specific religions or spiritual 
practices and the methods of AI.

While giving this some thought, earlier this week I attended a 
computer conference in Silicon Valley -- mostly highly technical, but 
bringing together some very interesting social activists.  Somebody 
there gave me a link to a fascinating new document (April 2006) 
entitled "Mapping Dialogue", that reviews many approaches to "group 
process" (AI, Circles, Open Space, Future Search, Deep Democracy, 
World Cafe, etc).  This study was conducted by a group called 
Pioneers of Change (http://pioneersofchange.net/), in conjunction 
with some other groups, including the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

This 86 page .pdf (3195 kb) is now online at 
http://globalresonance.net/documents/poc/mapping_dialogue.pdf

The document discusses 10 major approaches to dialogue, and briefly 
reviews 14 others.  The first technique discussed is AI.

*

My friends and associates in our "Resonance" projects have been 
taking the view that the "fruit" or desired consequences of AI and 
any related practice can be described as "resonance" -- ie, that 
"resonance is something highly desirable that happens between people 
when -- "something" occurs....

AI research, and various suggestions received here, do very much 
point in the direction of "what" this mysterious something is (if, 
indeed, it is any one thing) -- and "how" it can be induced or 
created -- and seem to strongly suggest that this something often 
appears to be the intended fruit of many spiritual and religious 
practices, as found in widely varying traditions.

This new "Mapping Dialogue" document provides some "attribute 
matrices" that compare the various methods, showing what specific 
techniques are used in each methods, and what kinds of results can be 
expected.  These are very helpful and clarifying.  But even in this 
excellent and well-organized document, the direct link to "spirit" 
remains somewhat obscure and implicit.

It would be interesting to define a formal method for reviewing the 
teachings and principles of various religions -- exploring how it is 
that these teaching involve "doing AI-like things" -- and how it is 
that the practice of these methods seem to provide ways to bring 
diverse groups into harmony.

One exciting thing about the computer conference this week was the 
instinct shared by many people that internet processes can play a 
powerful role in bringing diverse groups together around deep 
commonalities.  The publication of this "Mapping Dialogue" is a very 
encouraging sign that we are making dramatic progress.  A few more 
bridge-building exercises like this, and we will have created some 
solid connections across the deepest and most mysterious elements in 
diverse group psychology....

- Bruce Schuman
Santa Barbara
http://globalresonance.net
http://resonanceproject.org

PS - for those interested in "Mapping Dialogue" but who may have 
trouble with large documents, I will send links to some smaller files 
in a following email

*
*
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