My (short?) answer, Carla, is that OST works because people care. While some care about big things (community) and others care only for smaller (personal) agendas, virtually everybody is definitely out there in the world trying to get something, get happy, make some money or make a difference, however they might define that. Academics Fred and Merrelyn Emery and Eric Trist used to say "People are purposeful, and can be ideal seeking." We might not like or appreciate everyone's purpose, but they do have them. And when given an ideal, in the form of invitation, we are naturally inclined to seek it, together. Because we are also herding animals, with brains that entrain with other brains, as a necessary survival tool. Finally, in another form of academic language, this time from business, OST opens 'efficient markets' for information. Prices in markets for goods and services are understood academically as simply information about the value of things. So, too, in the posting in our OST marketplaces. The postings are information about value(s). Bids and offers of information. Bids to work together, herding, toward ideals, and in the course of the trading, everybody seeking what they want in relation to what everyone else wants. OST just lets it all happen in a more liquid, flexible, flow movement of people and information. A more effecient marketplace for what we're already wired to do.
my two cents. michael On 3/14/06, Harrison Owen <[email protected]> wrote: > Carla -- you also give all those academic types a small push. You might ask > why it is that the Academic Community has so far managed to ignore OS? Here > is something that is 20 years old with 60,000+ applications in 100 > Countries. This is the perfect opportunity for a little PhD research. These > folks could become famous! > > Harrison > > Harrison Owen > 7808 River Falls Drive > Potomac, Maryland 20854 > Phone 301-365-2093 > Skype hhowen > Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com > Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org > Personal website www.ho-image.com > OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the > archivesVisit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > > > -----Original Message----- > From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Vliex, > Carla (cvl) > Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 6:13 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: great succes for Open Space in the Netherlands > > Hi all > > Last week we had a meeting with about 20 OD consultants in the Netherlands. > Some who lecture about OD at University, some who do research on OD and some > who work as OD consultants (like me). I was invited to write an article an > how Open Space works and why it works according to my experinces with Open > Space. I used many of the things I have read over the years on the list! > The article is going to be published in juni in one of our more prestige > journals (for the dutch: Management en Organisatie). And there will be a > national congres on Open Space and other inteventions who really are > interactive (appreciative inquiry, Future Search, and much much more) > > I was very honoured not only to be asked but that Open Space is goging to be > even more 'hot' in the Netherlands. > > So if there are some reflections on the the next two items, it would help me > very much to rewrite some parts of the article: > - why does Open Space work? (those academic boys and girls over ?here want > to know something about theoretical background and start looking very upset > as I told them that it just works). > > - as Harrison wrote in his book Open Space; exapanding our now, Open Space > has very ancient backgrounds (meeting in a cirkel, breathing, starting en > ending 'time' and son on). What is more to say about these ancient ways of > meeting? > > Anything or everything is welcome > > warm regards > Carla > > > * > * > ========================================================== > [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 > -- Michael Herman Michael Herman Associates 300 West North Ave #1105 Chicago IL 60610 USA Phone: 312-280-7838 [email protected] skype: globalchicago http://www.michaelherman.com http://www.openspaceworld.org 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
