<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Self organization works by a combination of attractors and boundaries. Attractors are things that draw components of a system towards themselves (gravity wells, a pile of money left on the ground, an invitation). Boundaries (or constraints) are barriers that constrain the elements in a system (an atmosphere, the edges of an island, the number of syllables in a haiku)<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Working together, attractors and boundaries define order where otherwise there is chaos. We can be intentional about some of these, but not all of them. Within complex systems, attractors and constraints create the conditions to enable emergence. What emerges isn’t always desirable and is never predictable, but it has the property of being new and different from any of the individual elements within the system.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Self-organization is where we get new, previously unknown things from. Open Space is a beautiful way of working with these dynamics within the container of strategic work in organizations and communities. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">That’s about the shortest summary I can undertake about this stuff. :-)</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Chris</div><div class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Aug 31, 2015, at 1:40 PM, Daniel Mezick via OSList <<a href="mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org" class="">oslist@lists.openspacetech.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class="">
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"Is it accurate to say that some self organizing happens by
invitation and some happens by coercion/force? " <br class="">
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<br class="">
Great question Lucas!<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
The [invitation] wall-poster you suggest feels wall-worthy to me, so
long as no one is obligated to examine it... or even look at it.<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
My turn to ask a question: What might a world "void of manipulation"
and "replete with invitation" actually look like?<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
Daniel<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 8/31/15 9:57 AM, Lucas Cioffi via
OSList wrote:<br class="">
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<blockquote cite="mid:CAEj+rxoi82uy1fJ6Mw+uNeKXQK5iKjk7ZTmZTA_tnp2q_pbRBg@mail.gmail.com" type="cite" class="">
<div dir="ltr" class="">Hi All,
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">
<div class="">Is it accurate to say that some self organizing happens
by invitation and some happens by coercion/force? </div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">For example, from the perspective of someone who lives
outside of Iraq, the way the Ba'ath Party took charge of
Iraq through a coup seems like an example of self-organizing
by force to us, because we're outside the system of Iraq. I
welcome some thoughts on this.</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">Over the past few months (and working with Michael Herman
for VOSonOS) I've seen that the spirit of invitation
shouldn't end with the writing of the invitation, and
instead it should be present throughout the open space.
When someone posts a topic on the marketplace wall, they are
inviting others to a conversation, not taking over a time
slot (like having a coup and taking over a small country).</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br class="">
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">When someone wants to be a "dictator"
of their open space session, yes others can use their two
feet and walk out, but that comes at a cost to the social
fabric of the organization. A better outcome would be that
the would-be dictator holds a welcoming space from the
start. So I'd recommend that another sign worth posting on
the wall near "Law of Two Feet" would be "Spirit of
Invitation". I think it's wall-worthy, do you?</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all" class="">
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<div dir="ltr" class="">
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<div class="">Lucas Cioffi</div>
<div class="">Founder, <font color="#0000ff" class=""><a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://qiqochat.com/" target="_blank" class="">QiqoChat.com</a></font></div>
<div class="">Charlottesville, VA</div>
<div class="">Mobile: 917-528-1831</div>
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<div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Aug 31, 2015 at 5:07 AM, Paul
Levy via OSList <span dir="ltr" class=""><<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org" target="_blank" class=""></a><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org">oslist@lists.openspacetech.org</a>></span>
wrote:<br class="">
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<div class="">I think the clue lies in the wonderful word "self".</div>
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<div class="">We are the selves that organise.</div>
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<div class="">Beautiful.</div>
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