[OSList] Opening Space in mixed/low literacy community

[Lisa Heft]

I have this new operating system which is deciding for me how to correct the words. It is like being possessed by another being who is speaking in their own language.
Thank you for your patience, dear readers, in understanding what I am trying to say even though the spirit inside my new operating system has very strong opinions about what words to write instead…

Lisa


On Oct 3, 2013, at 8:30 PM, Lisa Heft <lisaheft at openingspace.net> wrote:

> Hi, Kim - as with any facilitation, any process, any documentation design, any adjustment - it all depends on the context, culture, objectives and situation of your particular meeting.
> Feel free to share more with us so we can help you more specifically.
> 
> John and our Haitian colleagues have worked for years with oral and reading (mixed) groups - and have learned so much.
> And we have learned so much from them.
> 
> In addition to what brother Chris has said, I would think about your specific situation, this specific group, their specific context, how they will use the ideas and relationships generated at this event *after* the event, and more.
> 
> In my work with a multi-language group of mixed oral and writing cultures, we simply had people help individuals who are non-readers write their topics - someone does that for them. They still come up to the center, name their topic, own it. In my work on prison yards with inmates, the context adjusts our ability to post and use a room, so our adjustment is an ongoing conversation circle right there in the center of the prison yard - where zero documentation is possible because it is not always safe to have things written down in a prison setting, readers or non-readers. In my work with mixed groups, we sometimes set up a mural on the side that people can add to, though they have more energy for the face-to-face dialogue than for documenting on the side. So sometimes we have roving graphic documenters picking up snips of conversation, sometimes it is not useful (for the participants) at all and we simply have others / multi-lingua readers in the groups take notes, create the Book of Proceedings - and then dissemination is either people reading their won pdf complete books or members of their communities holding discussion circles in person post-even to go over the book. And you have heard other options as well.
> 
> Nothing that works across groups or is assumed for any particular cultures, everything designed for the specific group's needs both within the event and afterwards.
> 
> All individuals being honored for their differences (that is why personally I say 'oral culture' instead of 'nonreaders' or 'illiteracy', which implies something of a 'less than'. 
> Helpers can be everywhere - both the helpers you invite and the self-organizing helpers within the group.
> 
> It is really fun to deconstruct it, think about it, and reconstruct it with access and inclusion in mind…
> 
> Lisa
>  

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20131003/fbd993aa/attachment-0008.htm>