[OSList] Happy wosonos - From Chile to London

Tue Nov 1 04:02:01 PDT 2011

Phelim, Harold, Suzanne and all:

Thanks for maintaining this thread alive.

My idea was not to try to impinge anything, but to provoke a discussion of
the ways we can have "legitimate peripheral participation” - without
disrupting, of course, what is happening in the event.

You have provided many useful ideas.

Let me remind one that you have not commented upon - the idea of having the
reports of the breakout sessions displayed in a wiki. This was done in the
WOSonOS in SvenMark (and I would like to hear comments from the conveners and
the participants that were present about that experience). I have repeated the
experience for an association of Information Systems that had some success as many
people had laptops and there were many desktops available, so people could read
the reports on the wall but also on the computers.

Anyhow, my idea, is that at some point in the future (but not for sure in
London) with new technologies, we will be able to do OST events or even WOSonOS’s
in many places simultaneously, connect through some technologies.

On a side note, this could also be interesting for connecting the many
occupy movements or other citizen participation fora.

Artur

________________________________
From: Phelim <phelim at mac.com>
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2011 4:18 PM
Subject: Re: [OSList] Happy wosonos - From Chile to London

Yes Harold,

You're chiming with my experience. When we did the Devoted and Disgruntled open space for improvisation  a few months ago. We wanted Jim Sweeney to be able to participate Jim Sweeney is one of the best improvisers in the world and an elder of that community. He also has MS so would have to join remotely from his bed where he spends most of his time these days. 

So we included Jim as a session. Saying he'd be online in the corner of the room for about an hour and a half. It was very successful. He had a great conversation with Roddy Maude-Roxby of Theatre Machine (Keith Johnstone's original company) and also did some Improvised scenes online.

So including online participation as a session means people who can use their feet in relation to it rather than trying to bend the whole group to the technology link as you describe can happen. 

Another experience we have had is where Ragnar Friiedank was present roved with his recording equipment: (IPhone and audio) and created a collage. He didn't join sessions just walked round the room picking up snatches of conversations and ambient sound. This be ame a sound collage which captured some of the atmosphere and passion without disrupting the groups. Of course spreading this material any wider would involve permissions from people! Particularly actors for example who's voices are their trade! 

Best 
Phelim 
________________________________
I generally pick up emails only at the beginning and end of the working day. I am currently aiming to respond the following day. If it is urgent please call me on 07956 187298. 
_____________________________________

www.improbable.co.uk
@openspacer

On 30 Oct 2011, at 06:15, Harold Shinsato <harold at shinsato.com> wrote:

Artur,
>
>Thanks for keeping this conversation alive, and extending the
    options for next year's WOSonOS to have a good and beneficial online
    presence.
>
>I hope to join the London conversation in person as well and have
    some passion for this question and would love to help if possible.
>
>There was an event a couple weeks ago where some folks wanted to
    come but couldn't be there in person - so they had a camera and a
    TinyChat window open on a laptop to help remote people participate.
    I'd managed to convince the group to meet in a circle - though it
    wasn't a full on OST event. (This was an Occupy Missoula General
    Assembly by the way!) It was interesting to watch the facilitator
    pushing to break the energy of the circle and get everyone to talk
    to the laptop at the front of the room and a horrible lectern
    instead of to the circle. But then the power of the circle won so
    instead the facilitator took the laptop with the camera into the
    circle and aimed it at the person speaking. The facilitator also
    spoke out questions/comments that got typed to the group.
>
>In my judgement, the online participation was very disruptive to the
    energy of the circle when the facilitator tried to force everyone to
    comply with the needs of that darn laptop. But when the facilitator,
    who clearly had passion about including the online people, moved the
    laptop to the center and occasionally brought in the thoughts of the
    online attendees - it felt like it added to the circle.
>
>This is a tricky one! There are challenges and benefits. Opening
    events to an online or recorded presence can either harm or bless,
    and usually it does both!
>
>At the WOSonOS in Berlin in 2009 I recorded video and audio of some
    of the events - and that seemed to energize some of the
    conversations and make it more animated as well as make it possible
    to share the power of the conversations. But one session I tried to
    record with audio caused discomfort to the convener of the session
    and I can understand how even just turning on an audio recorder (let
    alone a video camcorder) can change the feeling of freedom and
    safety of the participants. This is definitely a dance which can be
    gracious and also clumsy.
>
>Whoever Comes and Wherever it Happens both seem to be increasingly
    extending out into the internet and online - either with cameras and
    microphones or with twitter and blogs. However this happens - it
    would be great to have the pre-work help it be more of a blessing
    than a curse when WOSonOS comes to London.
>
>    Blessings!
>    Harold
>
>On 10/23/11 11:11 AM, Artur Silva wrote: 
>Hi Phelim,
>>
>>
>>
>>The problem with "Whoever comes are the right people" is: what does it mean "who comes" in these days?
>> 
>>I have heard of companies that have made OST meetings with simultaneous gatherings in two or more different locations, connected by ITC. In my opinion all the people in any of those gatherings "came together"
>> 
>>I have attended many conferences and meetings with people in many different locations. These people "come together," still being away from each other, in a "coming together" that was mediated by ICT and not by plane (with a lower ecological footprint, btw).
>> 
>>We all know of "communities" whose members are far away and even never seen each other (the two of us, as members of the "OST Community", are a good example).
>> 
>>And when someone in one place connects with many people in many different places, using Skype or any other tool - including the telephone - are they "coming together" or not?
>> 
>>During the OSonOS of 2003 in "SvenMark" the reports of the breakout sessions were immediately putted in a Wiki and displayed in the web, were they could be commented by people not in the meeting and eventually re-commented by the people in the gathering. Being ill in bed with a lot of free time I was one of those long distance participants. IMHO those outside that followed and commented the event were also "coming", in a form of Jean Lave's "legitimate peripheral participation". 
>> 
>>If OST changed the way we do meetings, ICT is changing the way we "come together" and create communities. I am sure that we can have the best of those two worlds if we are able to think about that in an innovative way.
>> 
>>I agree with Susanne's suggestion of creating an international support group to help the London Hosting team with that.
>> 
>>Anyhow, I am planning to go to London, so this is not a personnel interest; it is something I think we must consider and the sooner the better.
>> 
>>Care
>> 
>>Artur   
>>
>>
>>PS: You also wrote about "being able to view something through a camera like a security guard". What I think you are missing is that people that are seeing "through the camera" are not security guards. They are OST facilitators, members of the community, that in many cases have already attended OST events and maybe even previous WOSonOS. If that was not true they would never know about the transmission, neither be interested in following it. 
>>
>
>
>-- 
>Harold Shinsato
>harold at shinsato.com
>http://shinsato.com
>twitter: @hajush
_______________________________________________
>OSList mailing list
>To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
>To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
>To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
>http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
>
_______________________________________________
OSList mailing list
To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20111101/2e5712de/attachment-0007.htm>