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<DIV>From Harrison:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>>Chris -- Not to add to your workload, but it occurs to me that you
actually have TWO very important >groups that need to get together. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>This closely parallels what we've been grappling with for the Arts
Commission. Here's this government agency that invited people to play in a
new way. We talked quite a bit up front about who is this work to serve --
the people of the state or the agency? Where we landed is this work is
seeding participation throughout the state. We hope it inspires a
sense of community -- greater understanding of common interests -- such
that the voice for arts in the state is strengthened, and results in action by
any and all wherever they are moved to act. The Arts Commission, as any
other participting individual or organization, can use what they learn to plan
how they can best serve. It's a both/and situation.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Peg Holman</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>P.S. Thank you for the range of responses to the design I
proposed. The session is Mar. 11 so I am digesting the comments and will
let you know how it all goes. I have no desire or need to either overly
structure or control anything so I am thinking hard about the most open way to
invite people to get grounded in this 6-week conversation, focus on what's most
important (voting doesn't do it for me) and articulate some direction
together.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A href="mailto:owenhh@MINDSPRING.COM" title=owenhh@MINDSPRING.COM>Harrison
Owen</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
href="mailto:OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU"
title=OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, January 27, 2000 3:12
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Convergence Design</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>At 12:27 AM 1/27/00 -0800, you wrote:</DIV>
<DIV>>Harrison wrote:</DIV><BR>
<DIV>>"Chris -- I suggest being a little careful here. If it was true that
all</DIV>
<DIV>>the issues were posted by the Planning Committee members</DIV>
<DIV>>(could have happened) there is no issue. But since that was probably
not</DIV>
<DIV>>the case (never has been, in my experience) you are</DIV>
<DIV>>running the distinct possibility that the actual conveners will
feel</DIV>
<DIV>>disempowered. That would be a major loss. If there is still
time,</DIV>
<DIV>>I would suggest that (at the very least you invite all the conveners
of</DIV>
<DIV>>the several issues to join the committee. That is where your</DIV>
<DIV>>energy is -- with the conveners. Use it!"</DIV><BR>
<DIV>Chris Replied:</DIV><BR>
<DIV>. This exercise is primarily for the government folks to develop
some</DIV>
<DIV>>personal committment around the issues the community
elucidated. They</DIV>
<DIV>>have a deep well to drink from (45 sessions and a lot of
concrete</DIV>
<DIV>>action) and my intention is to set them loose on the work and figure
out</DIV>
<DIV>>what role they can play to be supportive.</DIV>
<DIV>****************************************</DIV>
<DIV>Further Thoughts from Harrison:</DIV><BR>
<DIV>Chris -- Not to add to your workload, but it occurs to me that you
actually have TWO very important groups that need to get together. One, of
course is the Government Folks who need to get their stuff together. I guess
they are called The Planning Committee, and you probably can't change that
now. But it seems to me that they are no longer the Planning Committee (It has
all been planned and happened) -- They are in fact just one other sub-group
from the meeting who now have to get their stuff together in response to what
happened. That sounds like a good and necessary undertaking. BUT there is at
least one other group (The conveners) who are in a siimilar situation. I
understand your hesitance to invite them to come together because of all the
other things that are happening. But maybe it would be wise to let them make
the choice? It could be they don't want to come -- in which case they won't.
Or they might...</DIV><BR>
<DIV>I guess the center of my point is that there are two different needs and
functions here (at least). The Government folks have to get their heads
screwed on right. And -- ALL the people involved (or certainly the conveners)
should be given the opportunity to take responsibility for their thoughts
leading to action.</DIV><BR>
<DIV>At the end of the day what I would be most concerned about is that a
very, very, very old paradigm is re-enforced. BIG BROTHER KNOWS BEST AND
ALTHOUGH HE WILL TAKE YOUR THOUGHTS INTO CONSIDERTATION (MAYBE), IN THE FINAL
ANALYSIS, HE WILL DO WHAT (HE PERCIEVES) IS BEST FOR YOU.</DIV><BR>
<DIV>I am sure that is not your intention, and I believe you that the
excitement generated by the Open Space is such that much good has and will
occur. Never-the less I would be doing my damnedest to make sure that there is
at least the opportunity for all the folks to own their creation and take
responsibilty for its realization. It seems to me from what you have said that
even though the Government folks may have initiated the whole effort, they are
now off center stage. They have their own issues to deal with and they should
so that -- but everybody (as represented by the conveners and anybody else who
cares to show up) should be involved in the "What-Next. I
think.</DIV><BR>Harrison <BR>
<DIV align=center>Harrison Owen<BR>7808 River Falls Drive<BR>Potomac, MD
20854<BR>USA<BR>phone 301-469-9269<BR>fax 301-983-9314<BR>website <BR><A
href="http://www.mindspring.com/~owenhh"
eudora="autourl">www.mindspring.com/~owenhh</A><BR>Open Space Institute
websites<BR><A href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/"
eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.org</A><BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>