Come join us at Open Space Technology World Community Ning site!!

Michael Herman michael at michaelherman.com
Tue Nov 17 10:34:07 PST 2009


kaliya, and everyone else...

what lisa heft has lauded as fierce love of this practice and this community
shows up a bit differently on my screen.  i've been called irresponsible,
unsafe, dominating, controlling and i'm probably forgetting a few.  wow.
thanks for your thoughts and acknowledgements about trust and such, holger.

do you realize, kaliya, that openspaceworld.org actually does have
"mainstream" wikis -- not one, but six of them?  we have an estonian wiki!
and a haitian creole wiki.  and spanish/portuguese and italian and two in
english.  five (including one of the english wikis) are publicly editable.
the sixth is publicly editable, but not obviously so.  i use it to manage
the main resources content of .org version -- because it is so simple and
because almost anyone could step in and understand and manage the thing very
easily.  meanwhile there are a number of people who do help out from time to
time.

leaving that aside, you've also called openspaceworld.org a community
asset.  i use this same term.  to me it's about community service and
community benefit.

openspaceworld.org is something i give to the world so that it might
benefit.  but you say community asset and seem to ascribe some right to
control or manage.  so, what do you mean when you say "community asset?"
and what is it about openspaceworld.org and .net that makes them community
assets?  and what about openspaceworldmap.org and worldscape.org?  what
about the the chinese and korean and polish sites that have sprung up?

harrison uses openspaceworld.com.  is that name a community asset?  and then
there are those who've claimed an open space name at facebook or myspace or
linkedin, and now, ning.  is the use of the open space name there something
the community should be managing?  what about those who read the book, try
it out, learn the way and then dare to "train others" in ost.  is their use
of the ost name something to be managed as well?  how do you draw the lines
between these?  how would we manage them?  you said something about a small
group of techies making decisions and explaining them in non-techie terms to
the rest of the community?

to diane and lori's points, way back at osonos7, 1999 in chicago, when the
openspaceworld.org site was just months old, michael pannwitz put up a blank
page on the wall and asked for everyone to put the addresses of ost sites.
i had just barely finished getting openspaceworld.org up and running,
really, like the paint still wet, but i stood back and told many people that
michael's list was what i saw as the future of the openspaceworld.org site
-- just a listing of other sites.  so first and foremost, i've tried to make
the site link to things happening everywhere, like the agenda wall, lori
describes.  now, i've also been willing to host lots of other things, wikis
and such, just to help people out, but  mostly that was before it got so
easy to start a ning group or a wiki or a whole new website.

i think that we don't need to create so solid a center, but to let the
center we have, especially in the quality of the oslist conversation,
permeate all these other places.  we go to ning not because it serves us,
but because there are a bunch of folks out there who use ning as their
primary way of working with people.  same with facebook, linkedin, etc.  so
to me, oslist is the core conversation, and metanet before that.  but you
know what?  metanet and all the gorgeous things that happened there over 4
or some years is gone.  same with the revival we had for a while.  and yet,
ost goes on.  and just like in ost meetings, not everyone has to go to all
of the breakouts.

if i could secure into the future a single web asset, it would be the
oslist, for its archives and for its spirit.  everything else, including the
sites i've created, is gravy.  and any sort of central conversation beyond
the oslist feels like a step backward.  we're already much bigger than a
single site.  best we can do is to link around a lot.

when ost training was new, and even the term was quite new, harrison wisely
resisted the prevailing logic of certification and control.  "people can
tell when the space is really open" he used to say of those times when folks
called some strange things "open space".  people will find what they need of
this stuff online, too.  even without the oslist and without
openspaceworld.org and dot everything else.

if harrison had certified it, we'd be in the certification business, not the
ost business.  i think it's the same with community asset management.  we
could easily get into the online practice community management business...
which would be a shame cuz there's already such a large and open group doing
such a very fine, while in no way perfect or ideal, job of managing itself
and its assets.

now this is in no way intended to block progress!  how ever could i block
progess of such a large and open community?  anybody can make anything they
want and i'll just keep linking to it.  all i'm saying is that we might not
need to work that hard, trying to create THE centrally managed
always-up-to-date community site.  what some might see as slacking off or
mismanagement in my site is actually my actively working to do less and less
with it...still working toward that vision of openspacworld.org as just a
list of websites, as so many sessions posted on the wall.  i'm glad to stand
next to it and tear little pieces of tape (simple links) for those who would
put something up for us.

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)


On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 2:06 AM, Kaliya <identitywoman at gmail.com> wrote:

> My passion is for an open transparent "open space world" site that is
> collaboratively run.
>
> Some coherent well thoughtout community deliberated strategy for our online
> life - that includes adoption of open platforms and open standards.
>
> I am naming a dysfunction a disruption in "the field of openness" in 2
> ways
>
> 1. Choosing a closed proprietary commercial place for the global community
> to be invited to by world wide leaders.
>
>  2. That you Michael are dominating and controlling of a community asset
> and blocking progress on updating and opening it.
>
> If you can't hear that and actually repond to these points rather then
> pointing back at me "re my passion" then I guess you are deaf.
>
> -kaliya
>
>
>
> Kaliya
> www.identitywoman.net
>
> On Nov 16, 2009, at 10:01 PM, Michael Herman <michael at michaelherman.com>
> wrote:
>
> i think you're forgetting two things, kaliya.
>
> first, nobody is or can be "bringing the community" anywhere.  anyone can
> invite all of us to anywhere and each of us will make our own choices about
> showing up.  no bringing at all.
>
> second, the open space institute is not responsible for your passion -- but
> you could be.  if you think something's missing on the great ost wall of the
> internet, just post it up there yourself.  you certainly have the vision and
> skills to create the things you want to see.  just go do it.
>
> as for ownership of stuff like ning content... have you ever noticed that
> we don't actually own our 13+ years of oslist content?  but if they closed
> us down tomorrow (and this really did *almost* happen a little while back),
> i'm sure we'd be back together again someplace else in a matter of days.
>
> meanwhile, we do already have dozens of community sites and sub-sites in
> this community, each one the product of personal passion bounded by
> responsibility.  and then a bunch of individual sites that offer even more.
> i rather like that our web presence is so big and open that anyone can make
> an offering and be part of it, and that the whole of it is so much bigger
> than any single site or institute.  we're bigger, too, than your proverbial
> bus.
>
> m
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Michael Herman
> Michael Herman Associates
>
> <http://www.michaelherman.com>http://www.michaelherman.com
>  <http://www.ronanparktrail.com>http://www.ronanparktrail.com
>  <http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org>
> http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org
> <http://www.openspaceworld.org>http://www.openspaceworld.org
>
> 312-280-7838 (mobile)
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 9:19 PM, Kaliya * < <identitywoman at gmail.com>
> identitywoman at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> While appreciate the invitation to this space.
>>
>> I really object to bringing the community to private service.  The company
>> NING is just like facebook or myspace it is managed and controlled
>> ultimately by a corporation.
>>
>> It is closed source (the code that is used underlying the site is owned
>> and not viewable by us).
>>
>>   The data of our use and the people on it - it is not clear about where
>> it goes.
>>
>> The community life all the information is "stuck" in the system - it is
>> not using open standards - so that at some point we wanted to leave NING we
>> could.
>>
>> Ning does not have open standards avaliable for the activities on the site
>> and HAS NOT BEEN INVOLVED IN ANY of the conversations around developing or
>> adopting those under development for social activities on the web.
>>
>> There is NO Reason to do this.
>>
>> I think it would be much more responsible to get a  REAL COMMUNITY LIFE
>> AROUND
>>
>> 1) A WIKI that is build on an open source "mainstream" wiki.
>> 2) A BLOG with community members contributing to and with different
>> members free to start their own blogs
>> 3) A robust commenting system
>> 4) A twitter strategy for lists and community connections in that medium.
>>
>> ALL of the above can be built on open source tools
>> On servers that we manage and control. ( Or in the cloud but on our terms
>> and we can move to a new service if we don't like. )
>>
>> No corporate entity can choose to turn it off.  We "own" it.
>>
>> All of the above can implement a common way to let members of the
>> community login across all of them with one login/password using OpenID.
>>
>> NING HAS NOT PLANS to Implement OpenID - (or any of the other standards)
>> <http://developer.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=1185512%3ATopic%3A11361>
>> http://developer.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=1185512%3ATopic%3A11361
>>
>>
>> I have been talking about this for well over a year but apparently there
>> is no movement by the Open Space institute by the actually developing the
>> community tools in community.
>>
>>
>> *Kaliya * < <identitywoman at gmail.com>identitywoman at gmail.com> *
>> To: OSLIST < <OSLIST at listserv.boisestate.edu>
>> OSLIST at listserv.boisestate.edu>
>>   * Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 8:10 PM *
>>   Lisa just pinged me about this e-mail on the list and asked I respond.
>> I don't have time until next week to surface and comment fully. I on the
>> 4th day of 12 days in a row of "traditional" conferences that I attending as
>> a participant speaker.
>>
>>
>> At the core of a comment I made in response to a request for a donation to
>> the OSI USA.
>> I would like to see the core community site have:
>> * a mainstream wiki that has broad access rights.  (this is an editable
>> website) yes there is currently a wiki - and no it is not a current
>> mainstream wiki platform (there for has a non-normal syntax) and it has
>> restricted access rights.
>> * an aggregation of blogs and another one for microblogging for
>> practitioners  that pulls in the feeds from all the things that
>> practitioners publish in these formats aggregated (via RSS) into one space
>> (example from my technical community is Planet Identity (<http://www.planetidentity.org/>
>> http://www.planetidentity.org)
>>  * admin access rights and responsibility held by several people (not just
>> one person who if hit by a truck basically limits capacity of the whole
>> community to function).
>>
>> -Kaliya
>>
>> TECHNOLOGY strategy for this community should be done in an open
>> transparent way.
>>
>> It should use "the best of" open source (this is very different then "free
>> tools" that are closed source and corporate owned with "them untimately in
>> control)  and focus on using open standards where possible.
>>
>> It should be developed in a way that includes the wisdom of those of us
>> with tech backgrounds and done in a way that explains our decisions to smart
>> people who are "not techies" so they understand the decisions/strategies and
>> agree they are in alignment with the community values and vision.
>>
>>
>> *global proceedings aggregator?*
>> ------------------------------
>>  * Michael Herman < <michael at michaelherman.com>michael at michaelherman.com>
>> *  * Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 11:54 PM *
>> Reply-To: OSLIST < <OSLIST at listserv.boisestate.edu>
>> OSLIST at listserv.boisestate.edu>
>>  To: <OSLIST at listserv.boisestate.edu>OSLIST at listserv.boisestate.edu
>>
>>   here's a new one, i think.  for the techies among us.
>>
>> how would you capture proceedings if you were to have, say, dozens, or
>> even hundreds of events convened simultaneously and you wanted
>> everybody everywhere to be able to post their proceedings into one
>> central place.  everybody except spammers, of course.  videos can be
>> posted to youtube and tagged.  photos to flickr.  but what about the
>> text proceedings?  and there is also the issue of a directory of event
>> locations.  hoping this wouldn't require a dedicated
>> application/platform.  here are some ideas.
>>
>> -listserve like yahoo or google group - non-public is a downside
>> -facebook group - non-public is downside here too
>> -wiki - might be too complex for rapid scale-up
>> -blog - might be coolest, but might require moderation
>> -twitter - might there be a way to collect only the issues raised
>> everywhere?  tagged by location, perhaps?  could happen more places
>> cuz could send from cellphones?
>> -blog - could make a post or page for every event reported and then
>> let them post comments.
>> -just get everyone to start their own simple, free blog and use a blog
>> aggregator... might miss a lot of sites.
>> -google docs?
>> -blog with a single "guest/contributor" username and password,
>> publicly posted, with user only allowed to post reports, tagging for
>> author and location within the post?
>>
>> ...this last option might be best, but then we get to the question of
>> what if it all really works and folks wanted to post some stream of
>> ongoing results and actions.  could happen.  so the system might want
>> to support that.
>>
>> anything else you can think of out there in social networking space
>> that could support such a thing?
>>
>> i think i like the twitter option, but have no idea if it can be made
>> to function in this way.  could all of this be aimed at a single
>> twitter name, or just tagged with a single twitter tag?  and somehow
>> captured in a way taht was searchable and scrollable long after the
>> first events occured?
>> then there's the scenario where somehow we get to hack up a new
>> version of the world map <grin>.
>> so that's as far as i can guess, and maybe even a little past that.
>>  thoughts?
>> many thanks,
>>
>> m
>>
>>
>> I read now that someone wrote in this thread "that NING does all this"  I
>> should have brought forward these concerns then and perhaps get movement
>> going in an open direction. I am sorry i didn't track that thread.  When I
>> popped up and made the preceding comment I prefaced it saying I was in the
>> middle of conference season.
>>
>> You are all in luck. I just "finished" my unconference season and have
>> time to actually give to the communities I love and care about.
>>
>> I appreciate the care and attention that *Artur Silva (Portugal), Shufang
>> Tsai (Taiwan) and Lisa Heft (USA) have put forward to do this.
>>
>> I get that it was a utilitarian choice and was not informed by deeper
>> issues and values choices that are being made by using closed source,
>> proprietary and non-open standards based tools.  It was only done in love
>> with the best intentions. I feel I have to speak up because I am
>> technologically literate particularly in this area about openness and
>> standards - it is where my core open space facilitation work is - with
>> communities developing an open layer of the web that is social and community
>> driven.
>>
>> I hope that I can work with others in the community who want to make the
>> most open choices possible and a collaborative on a future looking
>> online/tech strategy for the community.
>> *
>> Regards,
>> -Kaliya
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 1:37 PM, Lisa Heft < <lisaheft at openingspace.net>
>> lisaheft at openingspace.net> wrote:
>>
>>>    *
>>> Artur Silva (Portugal), Shufang Tsai (Taiwan) and Lisa Heft (USA)
>>> welcome you to join us at the:
>>>
>>> Open Space World Community Ning site
>>> A gathering place for sharing, learning, resources and community.
>>>
>>> -- create and host or join a regional group in your own language
>>> -- see the photos of members - including your wonderful OSLIST colleagues
>>> -- post links to photos, videos, tweets or blogs
>>> -- create calendar listings for your events
>>> -- post and share resources
>>> -- create or join a theme-based group about whatever you would like!
>>> -- engage in live chat.
>>>
>>> This co-created Ning web portal for all things Open Space is a compliment
>>> to the rich and welcoming dialogue of OSLIST and all our web-based resources
>>> such as <http://openspaceworld.org>openspaceworld.org
>>> It is free.
>>> Come and co-create.
>>> The seedling has sprouted - let us grow this lovely learning tree.
>>> Jump right on - sign in - create your own page and begin.
>>>
>>>
>>> *
>>>
>>> (*It is new...in its Beta stage...we are still trying out design and
>>> functions...come visit us there, enjoy using it, share any ideas for
>>> improvement you may recommend...there is even a 'Caring for this Online
>>> Community' Group you can join...and if anything does not work smoothly we
>>> will all learn and share how to fix it..*.)
>>>
>>>    *
>>>
>>>
>>> Do join us in this nutritious and diverse community meeting place.
>>>
>>> http://openspaceworld.ning.com
>>>
>>>
>>> We will continue our rich and vibrant dialogues here on OSLIST, and we
>>> will see you also in the Open Space World Community Ning site...
>>>
>>> Artur, Shufang and Lisa
>>>
>>>>  *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> *
>>> * *
>>> *
>>> *
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>>
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