Jeff is right, per usual. But somehow I counted the CIIS (California Institute of Integral Studies) folks as part of the "initiated" (certifiably a little strange <smile> ) -- and definitely not to be confused with Polymer Chemists from Dupont. So I persist. The first Open Space outside of the "community" (whatever that may mean) was as stated.
ho Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20845 Phone 301-365-2093 Open Space Training 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 -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jeff Aitken Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 2:47 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: question on open space origins I have a battered old pocket calendar from 1989, which clearly shows that Harrison conducted an Open Space event in the basement of my old graduate school on a February weekend in 1989. Some of our faculty and students participated in the OT conference in San Diego the year before, and invited HHO to do his magic on our little campus. The theme was something like "spirit in organization". I remember it clearly because the closing day was my birthday, and it was my first Open Space. And it was fantastic! Warmly, Jeff Aitken Petaluma California -----Original Message----- From: Harrison Owen <[email protected]> Sent: Apr 12, 2005 3:08 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: question on open space origins The first time I used Open Space, other than with the International Symposium on Organization Transformation was with Dupont. It involved some 175 polymer chemists on the re-design of a major product line. That was in the summer of 1989. As for pre-work with Open Space, I have never found anything that usefully added much. And actually every time I was in a situation when the sponsor demanded some sort of prior "spirit raiser" the general reaction from participants was something like -- "Why did we waste all that time?" I would never do any more than sit in a circle, create a bulletin board, open a market place, and get to work -- no matter how great the conflict. It is not about "purity of process" -- just take it all under the heading of "thinking of one more thing not to do," and "Never working harder than you have to." Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20845 Phone 301-365-2093 Open Space Training 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 -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of chris macrae Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 4:41 AM To: [email protected] Subject: question on open space origins Apologies if we have asked Harrison this question before I wanted to write up the extent to which the networking origins of open space, are different from the focused innovation or conflict resolution ones Going back to the 2 Martini story, I understand the first origin of open space to have been that of turning an association (organisational transformation) annual conference into a networking event I was wondering: what was the first major open space where the application involved an invitation which wasn't to do with an association's gathering but a specific conflict or innovation challenge? Also was there any additional preparation etc concerned with the early part of the three days potentially requiring more understanding of how to raise the communal spirits of people who may be coming together from a conflict origin. One of the reasons I ask is that in these days of virtual and real communications methods, there is quite a lot of debate about how to best use time in each mode? More specifically, I am noticing people who have been called together for one day (and who cannot change the command that this is all the time they will have) demanding some open (space) time on the agenda rather than a wholly pre-planned agenda. This is going back to how to making the most of people networking which we can then later pick up on or of mutual shaping of ideas while we are together in real time & real space whilst not necessarily being focused around one challenge. So whilst I understand there is at most one rule and 4 principles, there is perhaps some difference in tacit experiences of a networking or interdisciplinary open event, and a conflict resolving event. Any origins clues on how these are similar or different? Cheers Chris Macrae * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
