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<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=820032503-08092000>Harrison wrote</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=820032503-08092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=820032503-08092000>So am
I anti-convergence? Absolutely not -- but I find that the useful criteria are
"context and need." And both change with circumstances. So what's right? It all
depends. <BR><BR>Of course, one solution to the whole dilemma is that "we"
(whoever "we" is) offer some sort of formal certification in OST. But then we
would have to enforce it -- and spend a lot of time bringing the perpetrators of
malignant Open Space to the bar of justice. Actually, I would choose to spend my
time opening good space, and let the folks make their choice. At the end of the
day I suspect that Open Space (Technology) needs lots of Open Space -- and it
will survive -- or
not.************************************************************************************************************************************************</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=820032503-08092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=820032503-08092000>Harrison,</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=820032503-08092000>I
smiled. I know how you feel about certification and I of course feel the same
way. And certification doesn't imply competence and so on. And the words of
certification, I have found, mean different things in different cultures.
Nevertheless, as I think about this and put my own energies into both doing as
much good OST work as I can and taking many people through learning journeys to
wrestle with this Open Space Technology, I also wonder if there couldn't be
something that when a client hires Open Space Technology, that this is actually
what he/she gets. I don't see the solution to this coming from linear thinking
and tried and true but ineffective means such as certification. What I was
grasping for came out of what I think of as a tradition of a medicine man or
medicine woman mentoring someone to learn their art and then taking them through
an initiation/ritual to show the sacredness of the honor and privilege and
responsibility now bestowed. OST, well done, is sacred work. I am opening
space here, if anyone is interested in wondering, creating, and being quite
divergent in thinking about this question that I am raising that I think is a
valid one. So, let's go from a "given" that says no certification, no judge, etc
etc etc and see if there is any interest in exploring this question of
maintaining enough "duplicability" of the "prototype" that is Open Space
Technology, that we are doing something important to maintain its
credibility. </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=820032503-08092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=820032503-08092000>When I
am handed a recipe for a cake by a trusted friend, I assume she tells me all of
the ingredients so that I can duplicate her creation. After I've duplicated it
several times, I may choose to use "fat free" ingredients instead of the
original recipe. This is fine. I at least made my decision from a sound starting
point. Likewise with OST, I think we owe it to people who are learning to share
the whole recipe. And if we are doing an OST event that is not including the
whole recipe, that we acknowledge this with words, so that we paint a word
picture of other things that are possible. </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=820032503-08092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=820032503-08092000>I
think I have the ingredients. Which means, when I am doing an Open Space
Technology meeting inside of an organization, and the topic is about the future,
I would choose the ingredients that include a form of convergence and
intentional action planning. If I am doing an Open Space Technology meeting,
where people are invited for their own learning, maybe because they intend to
write a book and come to do research, I would not build in convergence and may
in fact not even build in the taking of reports for a book of proceedings. I
would however, acknowledge these decisions to the group so that they know that
there is other potential with OST. I would not want people leaving the OST
meeting that was done without reports, computers, convergence, maybe even no
walking the circle --going out and repeating exactly this and thinking it was
OST with all of the deliverables that we list.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=820032503-08092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=820032503-08092000>I see
part of the answer lying in the story we tell of what OST is, in all of its
glory when we have a gathering of people. I think far too many people are not
getting the full story and then the spread of OST comes from an incomplete
recipe. I would like to see if collectively we have any wisdom about this. Maybe
I am the only one concerned about this. So be it.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=820032503-08092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=820032503-08092000>For
me, whenever I do an OST meeting, I tell the story of what it is with all of its
ingredients when action planning and fine attention to detail are needed. We
might not do it that way at that meeting, because the need is different. And I
have a handout describing OST. I do this because I want to promote OST in the
world by sharing the whole recipe.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=820032503-08092000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=820032503-08092000>Birgitt</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2><FONT face="Arial Black"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2><FONT face="Arial Black"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2><FONT face="Arial Black">Birgitt Williams</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Black" size=2>Make Genuine Contact!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Black" size=2>Dalar Associates: organizational
</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="Arial Black" size=2><A
href="http://www.openspacetechnology.com/">www.openspacetechnology.com</A></FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">Harrison <BR><BR>
<DIV align=center>Harrison Owen<BR>7808 River Falls Drive<BR>Potomac, MD 20854
USA<BR>phone 301-469-9269<BR>fax 301-983-9314<BR>Summer Phone
207-763-3261<BR>Summer Address<BR>189 Beaucaire Ave.<BR>Camden, ME
04843<BR>website <A href="http://www.mindspring.com/~owenhh"
eudora="autourl">www.mindspring.com/~owenhh</A><BR>Open Space Institute
website <A href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/"
eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.org</A><BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>