The new Ning community - some central questions

Wendy Farmer-O'Neil wendy at xe.net
Wed Nov 18 09:40:23 PST 2009


Hi friends,
I'm just starting to explore and learn Google Wave.  I think there are  
a few of you out there a bit ahead of me on the curve for that.  Isn't  
integration of these various info streams what it is designed to do?   
Once it's out of beta, won't those who choose to use it be able to  
pull OSList, facebook, twitter, ning, etc streams into one OS wave?

I support open source solutions in parallel with commercial solutions,  
and also recognize that they take not only passion, but money, time,  
and expertise as forms of responsibility in order to realize them.  If  
this conversation results in a group forming to create that for our  
community I will gladly support it with my participation as that is  
the only form of responsibility i currently have available to  
contribute.

Many communities are having this conversation.  The explosion of  
social media has created tremendous diversity and the potential that  
accompanies that.  The conversations over which tool, which platform,  
etc are raging all over the place.  What I see beginning to emerge is  
a recognition of the new need to help users make the most of this  
diversity by creating tools that allow for the integration and  
management of these diverse information flows rather than the  
monopolization and control of them.

What has always mattered most to me about OSList and why i continue to  
read and contribute as i can, is that it continues to be the most  
accessible platform for a global audience.  There are many out there  
who still don't have the kind of connectivity and bandwidth that most  
of the new tools require.  It matters to me that some of the most  
vital conversations about OS happen in a forum that the lowest tech  
amongst us can access.  (And there are a number of us out here who  
keep our own archival copies of everything that happens here.  So if  
the main archive was suddenly shut down, i'm sure it wouldn't take us  
very long to stitch together a new one elsewhere.)  I am also aware of  
the fact that this conversation happens in English and of the colonial  
history and privilege of that.  So i support the emergence of an  
online space where we can see conversations happening in other  
languages simultaneously.  The Ning platform appears to be doing that  
at this time, so i feel glad in my heart to see that.

And please, while we have this conversation, would we keep our respect  
and care for each other uppermost.  I try to always envision us  
sitting in a circle together in an OS space having these  
conversations.  To hold each precious presence with care matters to  
me.  Whether i agree with you or not, like you or not, have been hurt  
or harmed by you or not, is irrelevant.  I still hold each of you  
essential to our community.  I support the call for an end to personal  
attacks and a return to responsibly stated personal contributions.  
Email can be a hard medium for passionate conversation. It's easy to  
be misunderstood and misunderstand.

Love to all,
Wendy


On 18-Nov-09, at 1:54 AM, Holger Nauheimer (Change Facilitation) wrote:

> It is really fascinating to see how quick the new Ning group is  
> growing
> (http://openspaceworld.ning.com/). I predict that in 2 weeks, we  
> will have
> like 200-300 members, and growing. In particular I like that we will  
> have
> country specific subgroups, and that might be the main focus of the  
> Ning
> group in the future. But it might also be that it will become the  
> major
> platform for our community.
>
> However, the Ning group raises a central question: in case, the  
> group will
> convert into a major network platform for the OS community, what  
> will happen
> with the OS Mailing List?
>
> As I have posted on the Ning today, I vote for maintaining this  
> Listserv for
> quite a while, and continuing to use this as the main discussion  
> forum.
> People got used to it, and in my experience, the OS folks are among  
> the most
> change resistant people that I have met in my life.
>
> In order not to divide the stream of discussion, I am in favour not  
> to have
> a discussion feature at the Ning platform (or, only for the  
> subgroups).
> Otherwise, people will be quite confused on where to post.
>
> I hope that in future all the national / language specific groups  
> will move
> to the Ning platform (however, in the German community there is some  
> strong
> resistance to that).
>
> What I would love to see is an integration of this list with the Ning
> platform. The ideal would be that one can post from here and it  
> appears in
> the Ning platform and the other way round. I am pretty sure that  
> this is
> technically feasible but I have no idea how. It seems that the  
> Listserv does
> not support RSS feeds (and I am not sure whether RSS feeds are the  
> solution,
> probably not).
>
> If we would agree that integration is a good step, I would do some  
> further
> research and also engage a developer to help us out. Ideas?
>
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Wendy Farmer-O'Neil
CEO Prospera Consulting
wendy at xe.net
1-800-713-2351

The moment of change is the only poem. -- Adrienne Rich

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