On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 12:47 PM, Nicholas Thompson <[email protected]> wrote: > http://www.openspaceworld.com/brief_history.htm ... > Anybody out there have any experience with it?
Yes. I have attended a few event organized like this and even helped to facilitate one. To me, it feels like a cross between FRIAM's regular get-togethers and a lunch-and-learn session as often presented at the Complex. Some people come prepared with an agenda and a topic about which they are passionate. Others are simply there to learn and/or contribute. Rather than have a number of pre-set topics, there is an open "marketplace" where different subjects attempt to attract a group of interested collaborators. If there is insufficient interest in a topic, it fades away naturally rather than continue to occupy time and space in the conference. The original model was derived from the spontaneous hallway-conversations that inevitably occur at formal conferences. Some participants observed that these were the most valuable part of the conference, so they attempted to create a conference format that is build entirely around these exchanges. It helps to have some kind of high-level topic, to attract the right group of participants. The quality of the experience seems to depend substantially on the quality of the participants (as any FRIAM discussion) and the number of interesting topics being discussed. I hope that is helpful. Dale ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
