hello again, all...<br><br>as you may have noticed, there's been a bit of chatter around here lately about participation and open access and websites and such. as it turns out, just two weeks ago, i set up a new way for those offering trainings to post their invitations (sometimes called marketing info) on the <a href="http://openspaceworld.org">openspaceworld.org</a> website. <a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/news/training/">http://www.openspaceworld.org/news/training/</a><br>
<br>notice this is an explanation of something i've just finished adjusting, and an invitation to *use* it... NOT an invitation to redesign it!<br><br>the issue of posting training program info is a good example of the challenges of managing a real website, in *this* particular community: (1) the activity is global; (2) the people who would do the posting are experienced facilitators, who tend to know me, the website (so they know me and shouldn't be intimidated or unaware of the opportunity to post); (3) the website is ranked well enough to attract attention of those new to ost, and looking for training, so it's a pretty good place to post this stuff; (4) the cost of posting is zero; (5) the potential benefit to program leaders is real and the payoff is almost immediate, if it generates paid trainees; (6) the job of gathering and publishing a global training directory is too big for one volunteer guy; and (7) the quality of any training calendar or directory is totally dependent upon trainers' input -- messy input is always going to result in messy offering. i could just igore the whole thing, but people do email and ask about training. for that and other reasons, it does still seem worth doing.<br>
<br>in 2000 or so, we used to have a bulletin board system, totally open, but the web was still new. some trainings got posted. later, we shifted from bulletin board to an even more open wiki format. the wiki format was roundly criticized, too open and messy, said some. and i found that there were many who wanted to post trainings, but few learned to do it for themselves, in the wiki -- and almost nobody ever came back to clean up their posting and remove it after the event was over. it did get messy. so i closed the training calendar and for some years now have maintained only a listing of trainers around the world, inviting would-be students to contact trainers in their region to find exact dates and details. <br>
<br>for the last few years, i've invited trainers to send their program details and gladly posted them into the osw blog. at this point, i'm handling enough of these that it takes some time... and because this stuff is dated material, the time it takes is usually pretty much NOW. (no matter if winter is coming and i'm in the middle of replacing four kitchen windows, the need for attention is sometimes pretty immediate.) at the same time, i'm handling few enough of them that i know i'm posting only a small slice of what is actually going on. some visitors might not realize that this is just the tip of the iceberg. i don't know if that really matters, but i always wish the listing was more complete.<br>
<br>three weeks ago i set up a new way to handle these announcements: a single page for 2010 trainings, where anyone hosting a training in 2010 can post a comment and announce their dates, website, etc. (note to trainers: your first posting needs to be approved by moderator, for spam-control purposes.) this approach to these posting isn't as pretty for visitors, but it's more accessible for trainers and certainly easier for me... in the spirit of one more thing to not do. but it still relies on trainers remembering and caring to post their info. <br>
<br>we'll see how this new system works, and recalculate as necessary for 2011. so trainers, please come post your stuff. trainees, come see what's happening this year. <br><br>and... some things to notice relative to our recent chatterings about website management... <br>
<br>notice that i'm absolutely not in control of what gets offered on the site. sometimes i'm minimally involved by cutting and pasting, but at the heart of the thing, i am totally dependent on community members to feed me or post themselves anything that they think should get out via the blog/site. <br>
<br>next, as i noted earlier, trainings, events and some other things happen in a dated, post-it-now sort of way. same with these occasional "community discussions". none of this happens on my schedule... i always have to respond when somebody else decides it's time to post or discuss.<br>
<br>finally, notice that this training question has no simple, perfect answer... lots of ways it could be done, for more or less money, more or less time and attention, more or less beauty, and more or less in line with open space principles and practice -- AND... <i>it's only one small slice of what might normally be expected to be included in a worldwide openspace website. <br>
<br></i>so... there it is. a new invitation and functionality, announced three weeks after it was first launched, ready for you to use or not. AND a bit of the history, experimentation, interests and consideration that's gone into the new thing. <br>
<br>again, i've not invited anyone to propose different ways i might handle this info... this is the best i will do for 2010, unless i crashes miserably. we'll come around again to for 2011. <br><br>so that's the other thing about this <a href="http://openspaceworld.org">openspaceworld.org</a> game.... it's a LONG game... not as simple as throwing up a few pages and we're done -- it's an active and ongoing (year 'round) experiment and learning curve. <br>
<br>so, way 'nuf said. trainers, trainees, have at it. the 2010 training programs page is open. <a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/news/training/">http://www.openspaceworld.org/news/training/</a><br><br>m <br><i><br>
<br></i><br><br> <br clear="all"> <br>--<br><br>Michael Herman<br>Michael Herman Associates<br><br><a href="http://www.michaelherman.com">http://www.michaelherman.com</a><br><a href="http://www.ronanparktrail.com">http://www.ronanparktrail.com</a><br>
<a href="http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org">http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org</a><br><a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org">http://www.openspaceworld.org</a><br><br>312-280-7838 (mobile)<br>
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