posting open space trainings at openspaceworld.org

[Michael Herman]

hello again, all...

as you may have noticed, there's been a bit of chatter around here lately
about participation and open access and websites and such.  as it turns out,
just two weeks ago, i set up a new way for those offering trainings to post
their invitations (sometimes called marketing info) on the
openspaceworld.org website.  http://www.openspaceworld.org/news/training/

notice this is an explanation of something i've just finished adjusting, and
an invitation to *use* it... NOT an invitation to redesign it!

the issue of posting training program info is a good example of the
challenges of managing a real website, in *this* particular community:  (1)
the activity is global; (2) the people who would do the posting are
experienced facilitators, who tend to know me, the website (so they know me
and shouldn't be intimidated or unaware of the opportunity to post); (3) the
website is ranked well enough to attract attention of those new to ost, and
looking for training, so it's a pretty good place to post this stuff; (4)
the cost of posting is zero; (5) the potential benefit to program leaders is
real and the payoff is almost immediate, if it generates paid trainees; (6)
the job of gathering and publishing a global training directory is too big
for one volunteer guy; and (7) the quality of any training calendar or
directory is totally dependent upon trainers' input -- messy input is always
going to result in messy offering.  i could just igore the whole thing, but
people do email and ask about training.  for that and other reasons, it does
still seem worth doing.

in 2000 or so, we used to have a bulletin board system, totally open, but
the web was still new.  some trainings got posted.  later, we shifted from
bulletin board to an even more open wiki format.  the wiki format was
roundly criticized, too open and messy, said some.  and i found that there
were many who wanted to post trainings, but few learned to do it for
themselves, in the wiki -- and almost nobody ever came back to clean up
their posting and remove it after the event was over.  it did get messy.  so
i closed the training calendar and for some years now have maintained only a
listing of trainers around the world, inviting would-be students to contact
trainers in their region to find exact dates and details.

for the last few years, i've invited trainers to send their program details
and gladly posted them into the osw blog.  at this point, i'm handling
enough of these that it takes some time... and because this stuff is dated
material, the time it takes is usually pretty much NOW.  (no matter if
winter is coming and i'm in the middle of replacing four kitchen windows,
the need for attention is sometimes pretty immediate.)  at the same time,
i'm handling few enough of them that i know i'm posting only a small slice
of what is actually going on.  some visitors might not realize that this is
just the tip of the iceberg.  i don't know if that really matters, but i
always wish the listing was more complete.

three weeks ago i set up a new way to handle these announcements:  a single
page for 2010 trainings, where anyone hosting a training in 2010 can post a
comment and announce their dates, website, etc.  (note to trainers: your
first posting needs to be approved by moderator, for spam-control
purposes.)  this approach to these posting isn't as pretty for visitors, but
it's more accessible for trainers and certainly easier for me... in the
spirit of one more thing to not do.  but it still relies on trainers
remembering and caring to post their info.

we'll see how this new system works, and recalculate as necessary for 2011.
so trainers, please come post your stuff.  trainees, come see what's
happening this year.

and... some things to notice relative to our recent chatterings about
website management...

notice that i'm absolutely not in control of what gets offered on the site.
sometimes i'm minimally involved by cutting and pasting, but at the heart of
the thing, i am totally dependent on community members to feed me or post
themselves anything that they think should get out via the blog/site.

next, as i noted earlier, trainings, events and some other things happen in
a dated, post-it-now sort of way.  same with these occasional "community
discussions".  none of this happens on my schedule... i always have to
respond when somebody else decides it's time to post or discuss.

finally, notice that this training question has no simple, perfect answer...
lots of ways it could be done, for more or less money, more or less time and
attention, more or less beauty, and more or less in line with open space
principles and practice -- AND... *it's only one small slice of what might
normally be expected to be included in a worldwide openspace website.

*so... there it is.  a new invitation and functionality, announced three
weeks after it was first launched, ready for you to use or not.  AND a bit
of the history, experimentation, interests and consideration that's gone
into the new thing.

again, i've not invited anyone to propose different ways i might handle this
info... this is the best i will do for 2010, unless i crashes miserably.
we'll come around again to for 2011.

so that's the other thing about this openspaceworld.org game.... it's a LONG
game... not as simple as throwing up a few pages and we're done -- it's an
active and ongoing (year 'round) experiment and learning curve.

so, way 'nuf said.  trainers, trainees, have at it.  the 2010 training
programs page is open.  http://www.openspaceworld.org/news/training/

m
*

*



--

Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates

http://www.michaelherman.com
http://www.ronanparktrail.com
http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org
http://www.openspaceworld.org

312-280-7838 (mobile)

*
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