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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Bernd:</SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'"><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">I have loved your first OS experience(s). Some comments.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">First, one can understand OS from a metanoic self-organizing experience without knowing OST (and even before OST was invented). Indeed my first experiences with self-organization are also related with post 68 events...<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Second, it is interesting to see how in both cases (Arena in Berlin and Cabo Verde) the "larger system" (socio-political system) quickly "closed the space". (A crystal has somehow self-organized in a crystal - but after it is created in stops self organization within itself. To Harrison to comment on...) <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">In your last experience in Cabo Verde there is a further application of the principle that says that a good head and good heart can use OST without any "certification". Until now I always thought that reading the "User’s Guide" was enough. From now on I understand that it is not needed at all - as far as someone as understood the "fundamentals" of it. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Thank you very much from your story <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Agraços<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Artur<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">PS: And yes, michaelh: today is holiday in Portugal ;-)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: PT; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">---------------</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><BR><B><I>WeBe TrainConsult <wb-trainconsult@gmx.net></I></B> wrote:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">Sorry, here we go<BR><BR>--- Original Nachricht ---<BR>Von:<BR>An: WeBe TrainConsult <WB-TRAINCONSULT@GMX.NET><BR>CC:<BR>Gesendet:<BR>Betreff: Re: My first (Re: Greetings from Ukrainian OS)<BR><BR><BR>> hello - this long interesting response reached just me...resend it!<BR>> warmly Agneta<BR>><BR>> WeBe TrainConsult wrote: > My first experience with Open Space The<BR>> first time I felt and understood what Open Space is, was 1976 at<BR>> the Vienna ARENA. ARENA was a post-68 event. Young people flowed<BR>> into an ex-abattoir with end 19th century buildings which the<BR>> Vienna City council was about to sell and destroy. Lots of young<BR>> people just stayed at the place after the last concert (the area<BR>> had been used for cultural events for a year or so before) and<BR>> decided to stay until the City would accept a self-organized big<BR>>
youth and culture centre. Self organization of several hundreds of<BR>> people - thousands during the weekends - took place. I got a smell<BR>> of freedom and "what could be" reminding me of the sweet taste I<BR>> had before perceived, when I was in Paris in 69, a year after the<BR>> 68 "explosion". Everybody there was caring for the whole, I decided<BR>> to move in completely. A house for children, art galleries,<BR>> mechanical workshops, en enourmous kitchen, Info-center, theater<BR>> groups, working groups of most diverse characters, info-groups<BR>> which informed the people in our environmet, a social center, a<BR>> motor-bike club ... were established. I decided to move in<BR>> completely, I loved the sweet taste of freedom and self-<BR>> organization. I was a physics student, alternative school teacher<BR>> and group dynamics trainer in a micro-sociology team at Vienna<BR>> University at that time and got big big eyes by looking at
self-<BR>> organization at work. At that time many of my group dynamics<BR>> collegues and I absorbed the systemic approach and did their/our<BR>> first steps from the "group" paradigma to the "organization"<BR>> paradigma. I could not understand why none of the other trainers<BR>> and scholars felt the same way. I thought: here they have a<BR>> wonderful opportunity to see self-organization out of chaos to take<BR>> place. Why don't they study it "in situ". Until today I have no<BR>> answer to that question. I assume, some feared to leave their<BR>> "ebony tower", others just feared to have their believe systems<BR>> challenged, many feared the loss of control, because there was no<BR>> "central commitee, steering commitee, nobody knew what the next day<BR>> would bring, everything was extremely complex. In the long run we<BR>> were, of course naive and, above all, not strong enough against the<BR>> forces at work at a higher level. Too
much money involved. After<BR>> some months the City council had - step by step - applied their<BR>> "divide et impera" strategy, offered a "controlled" youth and<BR>> culture centre at another place for the "good-willing-ones", hunted<BR>> those "unable to be reasonable" by the police.... I have never<BR>> before and afterwards in my life learned more and more important<BR>> things than during my three months life there at the ARENA. My<BR>> basic experience was "self-organization is feasable, I experienced<BR>> it, I felt it, it made me happy". Each time, my thoughts are going<BR>> back to this rich treasure of memories, I feel new energy flowing<BR>> through my body and soul. What I did not really understand then, in<BR>> 76, was "why did it work there and not elsewhere" and "how did it<BR>> exactly work". Since then I was looking for answers and trying to<BR>> contribute to self-organization at all levels of my personal and<BR>>
professional environment. OS germinating Around 1993 I first heard<BR>> about OST. What I heared were just bits and pieces, but I<BR>> immediately recognized the "spirit". But I was then leaving Europe<BR>> and going to Africa. I had a lot of work in my function as project<BR>> manager and trainer for the 'Austrian Development Cooperation' in<BR>> Cape Verde since 1994, at first in an NGO for educational and<BR>> cultural exchange, then in a district development project (Projecto<BR>> Boomerangue-information and training for leaders of grass root<BR>> iniciatives), then in a 3 years training's program for micro-<BR>> entrepreneur-consultants/trainers MECTs and trainers of MECTs<BR>> (Projecto TransFORM) at a national level for the 10 islands of the<BR>> Cape Verde Arquipelago in the Atlantic Ocean at the west coast of<BR>> Africa. My first OST facilitation When TransFORM arrived at its<BR>> final one week training in 1998, the
micro-entrepreneur's trainers<BR>> to-be perceived on basis of our collective analysis of the<BR>> institutional environment and the actual political context there,<BR>> that there would not be much support for their further activies.<BR>> The originally planned 2nd phase of the project "Implementation of<BR>> the TransFORM knowledge into our home institutions" had been<BR>> stopped. So our basic question was "What now? How can we organize<BR>> to provide a living as consultants and trainers for ourselves. We<BR>> invited all the stakeholders of TransFORM (trainees, institutional<BR>> representatives and micro-entrepreneurs for a big one day event.<BR>> After presenting the results of TransForm in a creative way<BR>> (simulations and role plays) I opened the space. I had no real<BR>> knowledge of Open Space Technology, I knew nothing of the<BR>> principles and the law or the animals. So I just informed the<BR>> people about the time and
breakout spaces available and told them t<BR>> hat there is not defined agenda and nobody who takes responsibility<BR>> for them. The results they would achieve would be their results.<BR>> What they would not do, would not be done. And then I said: "the<BR>> space/time and the working tools (bulletin board, space<BR>> organization charts, markers, flip charts, pin boards etc. are<BR>> yours. Please make a brief documentation of the outcomes your work<BR>> in a convenient way. All the walls of the big room can be used for<BR>> the results or any postings about the process, your questions, your<BR>> recommendations, your ideas. I will be around, but will not take<BR>> any decisions for you. We meet again for the final circle at 5.pm."<BR>> At first nothing happened. Everybody stunned. "That's it? Now what?<BR>> How should we proceed? " My final remark was the answer " "This is<BR>> exactly the question in a twofold way: YOU will find the
answers.<BR>> Organize yourself. Get clear about which aspects of your personal<BR>> concern you want to work. Find others, who will collaborate in a<BR>> workin g group with you. Go!" Then I left the room. It worked. It<BR>> was only two years later, when I got the chance to participate at a<BR>> OST Learning Workshop with Harrison in Vienna (2000). Thank you<BR>> Andriy for your question. I loved walking back in my memory. Bernd<BR>> > Andriy Klymyshyn wrote:<BR>>> ..... > > Do you remember your first experience? Can you<BR>>> share it with us, please?<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><p>__________________________________________________<br>Do You Yahoo!?<br>Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around <br>http://mail.yahoo.com
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