for what it's worth, i first got to learning about ost through online conversation (hosted by lisa kimball and friends at metanet) after an event ralph hosted in january 1996. the conversations there were easier to read than the oslist archives, and dated back about four years. i read every word of it, all the way back to the beginning, when the veterans of the current moment were raising some of the same questions i had now. after 5(?) years of metanet conversations and 13 years of oslist, there's a good chance that some flavor of your (anyone's) question has come up before... and if you're new, that means that it's been raised (because not understood) by somebody who now seems like the veteran. <br>
<br>i'm pretty clear that i only know what i do about ost because of the generosity of ralph, lisa, harrison, linda, sheila and so the long list begins. if you're new around here, it's worth noticing that nobody on the list has come to their ost wisdom on their own. i expect that everyone here could name at least a few people who were key to their arriving at this place and whatever level of practice and experience they might have. even harrison has told stories about the places where he first learned this piece or that piece of what became the practice of open space. discovered not invented. <br>
<br>that's what i think really distinguishes this conversation from so many others about methods and techniques. there's a lineage here. i think the nature of lineage is equal parts challenge and support, the outside might look challenging but inside there is also a strong flow of support. it's about knowing and not, the past is quite well known and oft-told, but the future is uncertain, adapting and evolving. so the only way for lineage to continue is to balance all of that. <br>
<br>it's a very active, dynamic process and if you're here, on this list, learning quietly or contributing vocally, you're already it in. cuz in the end, the practice isn't about the lurking or posting, learning or contributing, it's about each of us navigating for ourselves the edge that runs between them. no matter if you've posted or not, if you've considered posting... or considered NOT posting to something that you would normally have a stock answer to... then i think you're on that edge, active in this circle and in this practice. <br clear="all">
<br>m<br><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>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 11:11 AM, Harold Shinsato <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:harold@shinsato.com">harold@shinsato.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Dear Michael M,<br>
<br>
The "forbidding" aspect of a space with this many listeners for me had nothing to do with the "size" of people taking up the space as it did the pure size of the group and the number of listeners who felt like strangers. True, the power and value of the content and the contributors raised a high bar, but it's certainly not because it seemed to me like anyone was "hogging" the space. If anything, this is an amazingly welcoming group for its size and I'm certain it's because of the Open Space principles. I could also see that questions were always warmly received and answered, but I still felt after I joined that I'd better have a really good question to post before I dared to do so.<br>
<br>
It makes it a lot easier for me to post now that I've been in actual Open Space events with a number of the active contributors. In some ways, the <a href="http://OpenSpaceWorld.ning.com" target="_blank">OpenSpaceWorld.ning.com</a> site also makes it easier to post - because over there I can see a lot of your faces and it's easier to feel the humanity of many of those posting - as well as being in smaller circle conversations. Like they say in writing and speaking classes, know your audience. It just takes more time with a group with 600+ listeners.<br>
<font color="#888888">
<br>
Harold</font><div class="im"><br>
<br>
Michael M Pannwitz wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Dear Michael Dobbie,<br>
hope you have a great time in Australia and run into many of the os-workers there! Are you facilitating os-events there or do os-related stuff? I remember<br>
Since I have always just simply participated in the oslist, the aspect of being invited never came to my mind. Maybe that contributes to what Harold (and many, as he states) perceives as "forbidding", fat guys like me taking up the space.<br>
The "roll call" in process did reveal to me that there are many on the list who are mostly in the "learning" mode (as in the Law: "I honor a group with my absence if I neither learn nor contribute. If I learn, I stay, If I contribute, I stay. But if neither nor, I leave.")<br>
By the way, I noticed that the email you used in your post varies from the one in your info box in the Open Space World Map...let me know if you would like to have it adjusted).<br>
Greetings from Berlin<br>
mmp <br>
</blockquote>
<br></div><div><div></div><div class="h5">
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