"rules" and self-organization

Kaliya Hamlin kaliya at mac.com
Thu May 31 19:19:05 PDT 2007


On May 31, 2007, at 8:55 PM, Deborah Hartmann wrote:

> Interesting. Kaliya, I think you've just articulated the problem I  
> have with the way many BarCamps are run.

Yep.

> Eventually, they could hit on a safe, welcoming way to run them...  
> then again, with revolving leadership and volunteer effort, they  
> may not.

I am hoping that WhereCamp this weekend goes well. My friend Andy and  
his network collegue Ryan Shaw are the co-leaders.  Ryan has been to  
a few MashupCamps that I have facilitated using OST and Andy was at a  
bit of RCC.

I had offered to facilitate but got a paying gig on the east coast.
Two nights ago I sat down with them and went over what they needed to  
know as facilitators and holders of the space.

I am quite optimistic that the two of them can actually use OST to  
run a "camp."


>
> For example, the guys in the TorCamp community are puzzling over  
> why the women don't show up and when they do, they seldom initiate  
> a session... this last time, after two women had specifically  
> invited many other women to attend, there were only a handful, and  
> I was still the only one to lead a session. When the women talk  
> among themselves (ourselves) about what's going on, the term  
> "pissing contest" has come up a couple of times, followed by "we're  
> not interested".

Yes. Alpha Male geek behavior.  I "live" next door to this culture.
It is driving a lot of the 'innovation' happening in Web 2.0 but it  
is a not fully functional or diverse. It has limited ability to 'see'  
women.... this is let alone other 'diverse' groups.   The worst part  
is the VC's are even more...sort of the old boys club the Harvard and  
Stanford business school network types they decide the future by who  
out of all those alpha male geeks get money to build out their ideas  
to big time.

> TorCamp seems to have become a group run by male geeks for male  
> geeks... and it's working fine. For the male geeks. They perceive  
> the lack of balance, but so far don't seem to believe that  
> invitation and facilitation could make a difference.

Right. Cause their world works for them.


> If they want the kind of diversity that made TorCamp so exciting at  
> the start, the application of a few time-proven patterns could  
> perhaps help :-)

Yes.

> I'm puzzling over how to introduce these... because it's being  
> organized by a clique, it's hard to have influence on the planning.

Well...you could just volunteer to facilitate - what do they say to  
that?

> I can be patient for a while yet, lol, and meanwhile, I'll do OST  
> as close to home as I can and hope someone notices :-)

Yes.


>
> deb
>
> Kaliya Hamlin wrote:
>> It is nice you all want to be so 'free form' about things and  
>> 'believe' that humans just 'self-organize'.
>>  My experience has taught me that leaning to far in this direction  
>> actually creates a lot of dissonance for people and leads to  
>> spaces with negative energy.
>>
>> Having a person or better a group of people taking responsiblity  
>> for holding the space creating a nest if you will... within which  
>> people feel safe to 'open up' and explore with each other  
>> possibilities.... out of this space this nest is born new action  
>> and activity.
>>
>> At this time on our planet we need to be as intentional and  
>> catalytic as possible in creating space for new possibilities of  
>> our civilization to emerge....being passive and hoping that people  
>> conditioned the way they are in our current culture will some how  
>> 'magically' 'awake' and 'self-organize' is to me hopelessly naive.
>> Diffusing the simple tools and 'rules'  or principles and  
>> practices is one of the things that could make the  most  
>> difference at this time on our planet.
>> My experience is that professional  communities (that is people  
>> coming together to use this methodology in peer-to-peer  
>> professional network (outside 'AN' organization) settings) seeking  
>> to take action together learn the way OST works and take to  
>> it....it becomes the new norm -the shared way of doing things  
>> together that they work on.  It lets all the passion talent and  
>> energy come forward and the people who are interested find each  
>> other because there is enough structure ... just enough that it is  
>> functional and effective for them to spend their time in the space  
>> together.   THIS IS important. I somethings think people  
>> undervalue peoples time and energy by all this 'it just happens'  
>> talk....well if you help it happen and you follow some simple  
>> steps it is like 10x better.  THAT MATTERS for the state of the  
>> world and to respect peoples time and energy for showing up.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On May 30, 2007, at 4:19 PM, openspacekorea wrote:
>>
>>> great! i agree with your point 100%.
>>>  thank u...
>>>  Love and Peace,
>>>  park
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>>> ----
>>> *From:* OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] *On Behalf  
>>> Of *Ralph Copleman
>>> *Sent:* Wednesday, May 30, 2007 10:12 PM
>>> *To:* OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU  
>>> <mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
>>> *Subject:* "rules" and self-organization
>>>
>>> One way to test what is essential (what Artur termed "micro") and  
>>> what is not would be to open some space without mentioning either  
>>> the four principles or the law of two feet.  Or anything else.
>>>
>>> If self-organization occurs in os, would not the "space" still  
>>> "open" without things we have come to believe are essential?  I'm  
>>> betting it would, or at least could.  Perhaps all we need is a  
>>> room and a theme and a wall.  Maybe some tea and coffee.  How  
>>> free are we?
>>> Picture it.  You're invited, so you show up because the theme  
>>> interests you or you know the inviter.  You get there, see the  
>>> theme statement on the wall, and nothing but a circle of chairs.   
>>> Nothing.  Not even a facilitator.  Others arrive.  The only  
>>> things you share at this point are your presence and your  
>>> presumed interest in the theme.
>>>
>>> If self-organization is real, is not the space already open?  It  
>>> may take longer, but might relevant, useful conversations begin?
>>>
>>> I think the facilitator meets our need for an authority figure (a  
>>> perfectly natural, good thing, most of the time), and the ideas  
>>> about feet, insects, etc. a minimal unifying structure (think of  
>>> it perhaps as curbs to a boulevard?) that steer us into an  
>>> opening, a place we have agreed, by showing up, we want to be.   
>>> OS in action /resembles/ self-organization, but it isn't the pure  
>>> thing.  (Not that it really matters.  I love it simply because  
>>> it’s the best way I know to show people what evolution on Earth  
>>> is really like.  And it produces great results for my clients.)
>>>
>>> One more rumpled notion occurs this morning...  What about the  
>>> storytelling role, the thing we do as facilitators to connect  
>>> people entering an open space to a greater whole?  I know this is  
>>> important, but is not the facilitator simply reminding people of  
>>> a story they already know, deep down?  If self-organization/ 
>>> evolution is real, it’s been working far longer than humans have  
>>> even  been around.  Might we not trust this process?  How far can  
>>> we go?
>>>
>>>
>>> Ralph Copleman
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>> Kaliya - Identity Woman
>>
>> AIM:kaliya at mac.com
>> skype:identitywoman
>> Y!:earthwaters
>>
>> http://www.identitywoman.net
>> http://www.unconference.net
>>
>> 510 472-9069 (bay area)
>> 415 425-1136 (on the road)
>>
>>
>>
>> * * ==========================================================  
>> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To  
>> subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of  
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>> FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
>
> -- 
>
> Deborah Hartmann
> Agile Process Coach
> deborah AT hartmann DOT net
> mobile: fouronesix 996 4337
>
> "Learn the principle, abide by the principle, and dissolve the  
> principle." -- Bruce Lee
>
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
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Kaliya - Identity Woman

AIM:kaliya at mac.com
skype:identitywoman
Y!:earthwaters

http://www.identitywoman.net
http://www.unconference.net

510 472-9069 (bay area)
415 425-1136 (on the road)

*
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>From  Sun Jun  3 20:56:06 2007
Message-Id: <SUN.3.JUN.2007.205606.0400.>
Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2007 20:56:06 -0400
Reply-To: 76066.515 at compuserve.com
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: douglas germann <76066.515 at compuserve.com>
Subject: Re: "rules" and self-organization
In-Reply-To: <ef9ef5730705302130i16941f53k257a533da2b8f74c at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain
Mime-Version: 1.0
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Michael--

What is this noticing/witnessing? Could you flesh out your thoughts a
little?

Is it simply seeing the person across the circle in the opening? Is it
meeting the person as a real living person, equal to yourself? Something
else?

And is this different from the group noticing itself?

			:- Doug. Germann

On Wed, 2007-05-30 at 23:30 -0500, Michael Herman wrote:
> the modelling process of noticing "the other" in the
> group and individuals.  this noticing, harrison has called it
> 'witnessing', i think, does matter.  it's the beginning of the
> expanding awareness that can ultimately permeate the group in ways
> many of us have seen and relished.
> 
> and it leads us back to noticing how it is that we practice noticing,
> everything and everyone.  as we said some long time ago in one osonos
> session... open space starts when you pick up the phone.

*
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>From  Sun Jun  3 21:35:20 2007
Message-Id: <SUN.3.JUN.2007.213520.0400.>
Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2007 21:35:20 -0400
Reply-To: 76066.515 at compuserve.com
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: douglas germann <76066.515 at compuserve.com>
Subject: Re: Self-organizing and the role of design
In-Reply-To: <01d901c7a3be$4e904560$0b00a8c0 at Traveler>
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Peggy--

On Thu, 2007-05-31 at 13:00 -0700, Peggy Holman wrote:
> I'm struggling for language around this because putting it in the form
> of an either/or, as I just did, misses the boat.  What's the larger
> perspective that holds them both?  And how do we best work with these
> different assumptions?  

Perhaps it is a continuum. Put directing the energy on the 75 mark on
the scale, "will take care of itself" on the 25 mark. At zero put
laissez-faire; at 100 put Hitler and Stalin. Or make it a circle and we
all have a spot on the rim...but we are all in the circle. Where does
that get us with your first question?

And what does it suggest toward your second question?

			:- Doug.

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