Thanks for that Harrison...I'm adding it the FAQ as a "word from our sponsor!"
Chris --- CHRIS CORRIGAN Bowen Island, BC, Canada (604) 947-9236 Consultation - Facilitation Open Space Technology Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot Homepage: http://www.chriscorrigan.com [email protected] (604) 947-9236 > -----Original Message----- > From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Harrison > Owen > Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2004 8:59 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Open Space / Open List > > >From the very beginning (1985) Open Space Technology has been free and > freely available. I can't possibly remember how many times I have said > this > in print, verbally, and online - but I am reasonably certain that whenever > I > said it, I followed with the words -- But there is a cost. That we freely > share what we are learning. The mechanisms of sharing are multiple > including > training programs, public presentations, private emails and of course > OSLIST. The substance of what we share is even more diverse: Technical > "How > toss," Philosophical meanderings, and deep feelings from the heart. And in > many ways, I think the deep feelings are the most important. It is from > those feelings that we learn who we are, what we are doing, and what the > true value might be. Were Open Space simply a technical approach to better > meetings, we might avoid both the philosophy and the feelings. I believe > we > have discovered, however, that OS as a meeting methodology is but a tiny > part of the reality. Over time we have wandered into the strange world of > self-organizing systems, questions of peace making, human dignity, > personal > sense of worth, constructive conflict. And our journey has always been a > shared one. No single person has, or could have, the total experience. And > no one has the interpretive capacity to explain and elucidate that > experience. We can only do this together, freely and openly. > > Occasionally I am asked why I never trademarked, patented, or franchised > Open Space Technology. A flip, but honest answer would be that I was too > lazy, in addition to the fact that I had better things to do than spend my > time defending the sacred precincts. The same might be said for my refusal > to "Certify" OS Practitioners. More to the point, and closer to my heart > (true feelings :-)), I really felt/feel that OS does some good in ways > that > this funny world of ours can truly benefit from. Therefore I wanted it to > be > freely available to whomever, wherever, and however. . . And I don't just > mean Open Space Technology as a narrowly prescribed methodology. I mean > the > whole enchilada - Method, Philosophy, Feelings, and anything else that has > popped up along the way. > > The OSLIST has been one critical part of the Open Space experience, and > the > evolution of the global Open Space community. From the very beginning it > was > open to anybody who cared - with no questions asked about why they cared > or > how much. People have come, people have gone, and some have just hung out. > There has never been any promise of privacy or exclusivity, indeed just > the > opposite. Anybody who thought they had joined a private, exclusive club > was > operating under a severe misunderstanding. Indeed, the nature of the > Internet, of which OSLIST is an infinitesimally small part, fosters this > openness, for anything that appears anywhere in cyberspace is quite likely > to show up somewhere else. In the case of OSLIST, all of this has been > profoundly and wonderfully true. Messages forwarded and copied have gone > around the world multiple times making Open Space, and the possibilities > of > Open Space, available to people and places we will never know. Fantastic! > > For myself, I propose to keep the space fully open. Or if we do restrict > it > to a particular community, I propose the community of the Planet. And that > is a very strong feeling. > > Harrison > > Harrison Owen > 7808 River Falls Drive > Potomac, Maryland 20845 > Phone 301-365-2093 > > Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com > <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> > > Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org > Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm > [email protected] > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > > > > > * > * > ========================================================== > [email protected] > ------------------------------ > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, > view the archives of [email protected], > Visit: > > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
