<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <html><head> <meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head>Thanks so very much Michael. Was not even home today as this Wikipedia post was swirling about. <br/>Still worthwhile perhaps to give this some collaborative attention without being rushed and if people have passion around it for many more reasons than Wikipedia. <br/>Suzanne <p>Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry</p><hr/><div><b>From: </b> Michael Herman <michael@michaelherman.com>
</div><div><b>Date: </b>Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:05:10 -0600</div><div><b>To: </b><OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU></div><div><b>Subject: </b>Re: Open Space Tech article on Wikipedia</div><div><br/></div>thanks, all. while you've been adding to the thread here, i went and edited the opening overview and history sections of the wikipedia page. i've incorporated some of these new details you've sent.<br><br>here's what i posted. i'm better at storytelling than citations, but i tried to structure it in ways that would make citations easy. if you can add to or correct any of this, just go do it in the page itself. no sense tweaking this stuff here when it's open for public editing. there are at least two or three other sections that need work, as well.<br>
<br>mh<br><br><br>--<br><p><b>Open Space Technology</b> (<b>OST</b>) is an approach for hosting
meetings, conferences, corporate-style retreats and community summit
events, focused on a specific and important purpose or task -- but <i>beginning</i> without any formal agenda, beyond the overall purpose or theme.</p>
<p>Highly scalable and adaptable, it has been used in meetings of 5 to
5000 people and is characterized by five basic mechanisms: (1) a broad,
open invitation that articulates the purpose of the meeting; (2)
participant chairs arranged in a circle; (3) a "bulletin board" of
issues and opportunities posted by participants; (4) a "marketplace"
with many breakout spaces that participants move freely between,
learning and contributing as they "shop" for information and ideas; and
(5) a "breathing" or "pulsation" pattern of flow, between plenary and
small-group breakout sessions.</p>
<p>The approach is most distinctive for it's <i>initial</i> lack of an
agenda, which sets the stage for the meeting's participants to create
the agenda for themselves, in the first 30-90 minutes of the meeting or
event. Typically, an Open Space meeting will begin with short
introductions by the sponsor (the official or acknowledged leader of
the group) and usually a single facilitator. The sponsor introduces the
purpose; the facilitator explains the "self-organizing" process called
"Open Space." Then the group creates the working agenda, as individuals
post their issues in bulletin board style. Each individual "convener"
of a breakout session takes responsiblity for naming the issue, posting
it on the bulletin board, assigning it a space and time to meet, and
then later, showing up at that space and time, kicking off the
conversation, and taking notes. These notes are usually compiled into a
proceedings document that is distributed physically or electronically
to all participants. Sometimes one or more additional approaches are
used to sort through the notes, assign priorities and identify what
actions should be taken next. Throughout the process, the ideal
facilitator is described as being "fully present and totally invisible"
(see Owen, User's Guide), "holding a space" for participants to
self-organize, rather than managing or directing the conversations.</p>
<p>Hundreds of open space meetings have been documented (<a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/" class="external free" rel="nofollow">http://www.openspaceworld.org</a>; Open Space Institute US, STORIES Newsletter; <a href="http://www.openspaceworldscape.org/" class="external free" rel="nofollow">http://www.openspaceworldscape.org</a>;
Tales from Open Space, edited by Harrison Owen, Abbott Publishing). In
"Open Space Technology: A User's Guide," (and seven other books about
Open Space), Harrison Owen explains that this approach works best when
four conditions are present, namely high levels of (1) complexity, in
term of the tasks to be done or outcomes achieved; (2) diversity, in
terms of the people involved and/or needed to make any solution work;
(3) real or potential conflict, meaning people really care about the
central issue or purpose; and (4) urgency, meaning that the time to act
was "yesterday."</p>
<p>According to Harrison Owen, originator of the term and the approach,
Open Space works because it harnesses and acknowledges the power of
self-organization, which he suggests is substantially aligned with the
deepest process of life itself, as described by leading-edge complexity
science as well as ancient spiritual teachings. (Owen, Wave Rider, 2008)</p>
<p><br></p>
<h2><span class="editsection">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open_Space_Technology&action=edit§ion=1" title="Edit section: History">edit</a>]</span> <span class="mw-headline" id="History">History</span></h2>
<p>The history of Open Space Technology is detailed in the Introduction
to "Open Space Technology: A User's Guide", by Harrison Owen.
(Paperback: 192 pages, Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 3 edition (April 1,
2008), Language: English, ISBN-10: 1576754766, ISBN-13: 978-1576754764)</p>
<p>In the early 1980's, Harrison Owen wrote a paper on what he called
"Organization Transformation." He presented this paper at a traditional
management conference. It was well enough received that a number of
people urged Owen to organize a conference to specifically address the
issues and opportunities he identified in his paper. Owen hosted the
first annual Symposium on Organization Transformation in 1983, in a
traditional conference format, in Monterrey, California. The event was
a success, inasmuch as it was generally agreed that it should happen
again. John Adams, a colleague of Owen, offered to organize the second
annual symposium (OT-2) one year later, still in a traditional format.</p>
<p>Harrison Owen agreed to organize OT-3 for the following year, but by
his own account, did not relish another year of work to manage all the
details. Upon volunteering to host the third symposium, he retreated to
the bar, where he consistently claims to have discovered what he later
called the "Open Space" approach to meetings and events, at the bottom
of his second martini. His plan for the following year's symposium was
informed by his experience as a biblical scholar, associate pastor,
peace corps organizer in the villages of west Africa, and federal
government staffer and organization development consultant in
Washington DC.</p>
<p>The following year, he sent out a simple, one-paraphraph invitation
and more than 100 people showed up to discuss Organization
Transformation. In his main meeting room he set the chairs one large
circle and proceeded to explain that what participants could see in the
room was the extent of his organizing work. If they had an issue or
opportunity that they felt passionate about and wanted to discuss with
other participants, they should come to the center of the circle, get a
marker and paper, write their issue and their name, read that out, and
post it on the wall. It took about 90 minutes for the 100+ people to
organize a 3-day agenda of conference sessions, each one titled,
hosted, and scheduled by somebody in the group.</p>
<p>Particpants at OT-1 and OT-2 said that the best part of the events
was the coffee breaks, which Owen always pointed out was the one part
of the event that he didn't plan and couldn't take credit for. His
inspiration to articulate the theme, the larger purpose for the work of
the symposium, in an invitation and then a brief opening comment, and
then simply "open the space" for participants to self-organize around
the issues and opportunities they saw as essential to that purpose, was
a conscious decision to make "more of what works." His martini-based
plan sought to minimize the grunt work by leadership (him) and assign
responsibility for maximizing productive learning and contribution to
his participants (everyone else).</p>
<p>The approach worked well, in the 3-1/2 days symposium, where it was
repeated annually through OT-20. Soon after the first "open space"
event at OT-3, however, Owen tried the same approach with a consulting
client, a large chemical firm and a group of polymer chemists. When it
worked there, too, the participants of OT began trying it out with
their clients, in a variety of different kinds of organizations, to
address many different kinds of strategic and community issues, in
countries around the world. They returned to the OT symposium each year
to share learnings.</p>
<p>Owen never trademarked or patented or certified "Open Space" in any
way. He always claimed to have discovered, rather than invented, it. He
said it could be practiced freely by anyone with a good head and good
heart. From the beginning, he said only that those who used the
approach and found it valuable, should share their stories and
learnings as freely, as well.</p>
<p>Twenty-five years later, Harrison Owen estimates that more than
100,000 different "open space" meetings have taken place. The Open
Space World Map (<a href="http://www.openspaceworldmap.org/" class="external free" rel="nofollow">http://www.openspaceworldmap.org</a>)
documents that these events have taken place in more than 160
countries. In December 2009, the OSLIST email listserve (hosted by
Boise State University at <a href="http://listserv.boisestate.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=OSLIST" class="external free" rel="nofollow">http://listserv.boisestate.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=OSLIST</a>)
for practitioners worldwide had 660+ members and more than 26,500
publicly searchable messages, relating to all aspects of practice.
Information about Open Space is now posted in 21 different languages at
Open Space World (http:<a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org">www.openspaceworld.org</a>). There are at least six
different government-chartered associations or institutes (Canada,
France, Germany, Portugal, Sweden and USA) promoting Open Space
practice around the world. The german language yahoo group started
February 2002, had 233 members at yearend 2009, mostly from Germany,
Austria and Switzerland but also a bunch of German speakers from
France, Spain, The Netherlands, Poland and elsewhere, with 3497
messages in its archive.</p>
<p>Harrison Owen originally used the term "open space" for his
"self-organizing meetings". One of the earliest implementations of the
approach was for a conference theme of "The business of business is
learning," in Goa, India. The organizer of the conference was
interviewed by the local media and described the simple process. When
asked what the process was called, he embellished it a bit, with the
more important sounding "Open Space Technology." The story was picked
up by the New York Times (need date, c. 1985), and so "Open Space"
became "Open Space Technology."</p><br><br><br><br clear="all"> <br><br>
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