Greetings from Venezuela. OS for decisions?

[Lisa Heft]

Hi, Jason --

Welcome !

Jason wrote:
<My main question is how OS could fit in when they
are used to open plenary debate followed by hand votes?  They need
formal decisions for the democratic governance of their communities
but OS does not seem to provide such clear conclusions. Am I missing
something?  Are there any good examples of how OS could
slide nicely into some kind of voting process?>

I'm on the road with shifting access to email, so maybe others have
answered this but here's a thought:

Maybe it would be useful for you to read some peoples' thoughts on
convergence.  Yes, you can include various forms of decision-making or
action planning at the end of an OS - but my recommendation is to be very
clear whether it is needed - or just assumed that that is the way to go. 
Often just the process of dialogue is important, then letting folks
'percolate' on that - and have some more...without feeling that every
single dialogic situation has to end in / be measured by a vote. 
Sometimes the dialogue is essential first to pool the data needed for good
clear decision-making, then a bit of time for reflection.  Then decisions.
 Other times, yes, it's quite appropriate to engage in dialogue
specifically for participatory decision-making - then the issue is which
design to choose for making decisions.

Take a look at these papers on my site for those thoughts on convergence...

"Convergence: A Conversation"
http://www.openingspace.net/openSpaceTechnology_method_resources_Convergence_A_Conversation.shtml

"Convergence Approaches"
http://www.openingspace.net/openSpaceTechnology_method_resources_Convergence_Approaches.shtml

As you're new to OS, you might like to take a look at some of the other
papers on my website, see:

Open Space Technology / The Method -or-
http://www.openingspace.net/openSpaceTechnology_method.shtml

And you might want to take a look at the Gallery portion of the website as
well to see photos and explore the captions there:

http://www.openingspace.net/gallery/agora.cgi?cart_id=6226101.32435*Gl8qP5&xm=on&product=Anatomy_of_an_Open_Space_Event

Ask us a million questions - we look forward to supporting your learning
and your use of Open Space,

Lisa
___________________________
L i s a   H e f t
Consultant, Facilitator, Educator
O p e n i n g  S p a c e
lisaheft at openingspace.net
www.openingspace.net

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