Blogging live from San Francisco

Chris Corrigan chris at chriscorrigan.com
Thu Jul 24 12:41:36 PDT 2008


OSonOS 2008 has begun.  A number of us are here blogging away, and I've just
put up a post about the first session I was in this morning at my blog:

http://chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/?p=1428

I've reprinted it below:

*San Francisco*

OSonOS 2008 has begun with Lisa Heft opening up
space<http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3259/2699414468_710666b02e_m.jpg>in
a beautiful
building at San Francisco's
Presidio<http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3195/2699414656_cf065c8011.jpg>this
morning for 120 of us from more than 15 countries to get into what
Open
Space is all about.  This is my third worldwide OSonOS and I love these
gatherings because I get to hang around with people for three days that I
don;t have to explain myself to!  That, I think may be a good working
definition of a community of practice.

THis one is different for me as I am here with my whole family, and my kids
are actively participating.  I sat with my seven year old
Finn<http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3038/2698598937_d1436ebed6.jpg>today
in a session on facilitating
Open Space as a
kid.<http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3084/2698598979_a421965495.jpg>
For him I think it was an experiment in what it is like to post a session
and see who will come and find out how the whole thing goes.  There was a
small group of us talking about a number of issues having to do with working
with children both in Open Space and facilitating Open Space, and a few
insights came to light.

First, when working with kids, it's important to know that the principles of
Open Space will always be pushed to the max, and probably beyond what most
adults are comfortable with.  We had a story of a gathering that my kids
were a part of that was hosted by adults, but in which the outcomes were
predetermined and "the best face" was put on the event.  Working with kids
means whatever happens in the only thing that could have happened and that
might also mean that nothing of significance happens.  Being okay with this,
especially if resources have been sunk into something, can be hard for
adults tied to outcomes.  Working with kids will always teach you something
about your practice.

We heared some good points about the kinds of ways adults need to show up
with kids in Open Space, notably around the issue of time rhythms and
silence.  Kids operate on a different time engine than adults, sometimes
speeding ahead, other times slowing down.  Often kids won't speak until they
know they are safe and they will silently canvas a circle of their peers to
see who might talk first.  This can seem interminable to adults who are
expecting answers and yet this relationsl field is very important to kids.

We talked too about making sure that spaces are meaningful for kids.  If we
are doing work that involves kids voices, we need to make sure that these
voices will have impact and that we may be prepared to be changed by the
experience.  Adults can be advocates to kids - even in child-based
organizations - to make sure that children's wisdom is heard.

Finally we talked a little about a real world issue going on in our home
community of Bowen Island, where some trees are being taken out of a
playground to build an all weather playing
field<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8F41CkY0PQ>,
something Finn is pretty interested in. The need for children to have spaces
in which unfettered social self-organization can occur is critical.  While
there are many forested areas on our island, there are very few in which all
the island kids can meet and in which the co-create self-organized worlds.
In this sense kids already know how to live and be in Open Space.  Helping
them to actually run meetings like this might benefit from drawing on these
expereinces.

My son really co-convened this session with me and at times he was lost for
words.  I think for him, there was a little experiment going on: what is it
like to call a session?  Who will come?  How does the power work in this
process?  He learned a few things about this, including the fact that if you
call it, people will come.  He also learned about checking in and checking
out and knowing that that is okay, but it reminded me that for a wide open
learner it may be true that working in Open Space is equally about learning
about the content and playing with the process.  Fascinating all round.


Cheers, all!


Chris


-- 
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Facilitation - Training - Process Design
Open Space Technology

Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot
Site: http://www.chriscorrigan.com

Principal, Harvest Moon Consultants, Ltd.
http://www.harvestmoonconsultants.com

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