thanks, raffi! i see that you've already posted your pictures and tagged them with 'openspacetech' so you can see that they are already showing up all around the website, including on teh homepage, drawn randomly from the entire collection of public photos tagged with openspacetech at flickr.com.
i see that others are starting to post and tag pictures, too. if you want to add some of your own favorites, just open a free flickr account, upload them, and use the 'tag' box when uploading to mark them with 'openspacetech' (no quotes). then your pics will automatically and immediately be incorporated into the pot from which the site draws randomly to show openspaceworld.org visitors what ost really looks like. also, if you just go to the homepage and click the reload button, you get one random set of four after another. it's really pretty cool to watch the combinations of views and how they randomly fit together with each other, offering a rich view of what we're out there doing. http://www.openspaceworld.org michael On 12/16/05, Raffi Aftandelian <[email protected]> wrote: > Greeting colleagues, > > Galina Tsarkova and Mikhail Pronin shared this week the story of a > short 5 hours OST meeting that took place in oil-rich Kazan, Tatarstan, about > 12 hours by > train from Moscow. > > The OST meeting was sponsored by the Russian Ministry of Education and > the Tatarstan Ministry for Youth Affairs. For us it is significant > that a federal-level ministry sponsored an OST meeting. > > As many know, in many ways the political climate here is deteriorating, > especially in the > run-up to the presidential (s)elections in 2008. And, some say that > the Kremlin is getting more and more heavy-handed in its dealings with > NGO's because it doesn't want a "colored" revolution > (Ukraine had its Orange Revolution; Georgia - a rose one.) in Russia. > > So, the more we can refer to a (positive) body of experience in working with > government in using OST, the better. > > The OST meeting was on the topic of: > > the Development of Student Work Brigades: Issues and Opportunities. > > Student Work Brigades ("stroitelnye otryady") are something like a paid > summer (or year-round) > internship. Students studying at the Railroad Workers Institute could > get paid practical experience working on trains. Other students worked > on major civil engineering projects building oil pipelines in the > Soviet period. Or, they worked in hospitals. And the money they > earned/earn now can be quite a bit of pocket change. > > There were 385 participants from 69 regions (!) of Russia (Russia has > some 88 or 89 provinces). The participants included regional directors > of Student Work Brigade organizations, university level directors, and > students themselves, and others. > > Galina and Mikhail arranged to have one of technical assistants greet > participants by blowing soap bubbles and saying "welcome to OS", much > like when they ran a strategic planning OST meeting for a large > Russian financial company recently. > > And as with the financial OST meeting, the participants began blowing > bubbles during the meeting themselves and also shook the > (Indonesian) thunder-callers (I bought 5 of these musical instruments at a > head > shop at the OSonOS in Halifax on a whim once Eva Svensson showed the > one she bought; they make great gifts for OST facilitators). Since then, > these thunder-callers have started to be > used alongside or in the place of temple bells in opening space. > > Among some of the topics: > Young women in Student Construction Brigades > Creating a Common Information/Communication Space > Getting Concrete Assistance from the Authorities > > We all know that 5 hours is much too little for such an OST meeting, > but that's all they could get. > > I hope that Galina and Mikhail will add to the story. > Photos from the OST meeting have been added to the flickr.com > photo-hosting service and tagged with "openspacetech" They should > eventually show up on the reworked OSW.org site (I absolutely love > that feature, Michael (Herman), and have added it to my blogs. > > Below are a few photos from the OST meeting: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/81882819@N00/74114364/ > http://www.flickr.com/photos/81882819@N00/74114404/ > http://www.flickr.com/photos/81882819@N00/74114236/ > http://www.flickr.com/photos/81882819@N00/74121869/ > > Of course, there is much more to the story. > Participants, I recall Galina and Mikhail telling me, said "Don't > think this OST meeting is over now that you have closed the space!" > > Warmly, > from (an unseasonably warm and slushy) Moscow, > raffi > > --------------------------------------- > Raffi Aftandelian > consultant > essenceworks consulting group > organizational health and balance > Moscow > > > > > > > mailto:[email protected] > > * > * > ========================================================== > [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 > -- Michael Herman Michael Herman Associates 300 West North Ave #1105 Chicago IL 60610 USA Phone: 312-280-7838 http://www.michaelherman.com [email protected] Executive Facilitation ...getting the most important things done in the easiest possible ways. * * ========================================================== [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
