Dear Reinhard and All
In March of this year I facilitated a one day Open Space for a large aged care facility in Adelaide. The issue was around their residents moving into a new building and the question posed was 'How do we make the most of our opportunity? Incidentally this is a core question which I often use. Much has flowed from this event. The point for now is that my colleague, Cate Burke, captured the tenor of the conversing in four graphic recordings. She has the most remarkable ability, in my opinion, to distill a conversation in imagery and words. What words she does note are not verbatim and so is not a mind map; they are a synopsis of what she hears. Cate's recordings A2 size, laminated and mounted on boards, are on prominent display in the new building. Reportedly they are a constant trigger of conversation among people who attended the OST event and others. Seemingly too they have contributed to the substantial cultural shift to 'all voices being heard' which is under way in this organization. While it is wonderful to have a skilled graphic recordist as a colleague this is not necessary. In my experience people love to do their own pictorial cum written recording of their ideas. And the products of the participants and of the graphic recordist can complement each other nicely, as I will report shortly. Today Cate and I are doing a song and dance at a day long Open Space for a project called the Aldinga Arts EcoVillage. http://www.aldinga-artsecovillage.com/ The theme is the same as that mentioned above. And we will be taking lots of 'butchers' paper - plus our digital camera - to capture how a group of artists committed to learning how to live harmoniously in an intentional community record their passion and responsibility. Good to converse, with love Alan Adelaide
