Sigh,
Human communities do this for good reason.
It works.
Everyone is not 'equal' in the sense that we all have different
experience and different knowledge. Some people are naturally
skilled at holding space and others well they haven't learned it
yet. Newbies to a practice, technique or skill and having an
arrogance of 'sameness' with practitioners who have been doing it for
years.
Some how the 'groovy' green people (in the Spiral Dynamics sense)
have this belief their is no expertise, no years of skill
development, no level of maturity that comes from doing something a
long time and that the respect, knowledge and reputation that someone
might have because of this legitimate experience some how 'wreaks of
"hierarchy"' and that all hierarchy is BAD.
There are important issues in our society around the abuse of 'rank'
and having power over people because of positional authority that is
abused...these are real issues. Robert Fuller has spent a lot of time
thinking about this issue and has two books about the subject.
http://www.breakingranks.net/ He does not say that 'rank' and
hierarchy are bad he says abuse within this paradigm is bad.
I work a lot in Open Source and Open Standards technical
communities. It took me a while to get it but these 'open'
communities function on the scale they do because of repetitional
meritocratic hierarchy. To read more on the functioning of open
source communities read - Open Sources, OPen Sources 2.0 and The
Success of Open Source.
Open Space Technology is fundamentally different then these to
community practices - it is about taking the agenda away from the
'organizer' how ever the organizer of the event still creates the
invitation and invites the people and creates the space that is
possible for good things to happen. The Law of two feet is like the
right to fork... there are similarities at a philosophical level...at
a practical level... OST is not trying to build an operating system
or have 100,000 all collaborate on the same thing - it doesn't 'need'
the kind of hierarchy that technical communities do.
Having eldership and respect for experience is not a bad thing. If
this must be called 'heirarchy' so be it...I think it is legitmate -
and perhaps needs a different name.
If it means new voices are shut out. Well perhaps some reflection
on the culture that makes people think that - perhaps some
introspection is needed to address that problem. They are not the
same problem.
=kaliya
On Jul 14, 2007, at 11:07 AM, Raffi Aftandelian wrote:
Greetings friends and colleagues--
Harrison you wrote:
"The other day I got a note which said in part, "I was surprised to
find out that there was a hierarchy in the OST community and
everyone having
a specific place to hold, voices are not equal and politics
prevails in
certain circuits Just the same old same old... I'm not sure this
is what
you envisioned with OST." I have no idea what the specific
circumstances
were, and less interest in finding out. But presuming that we have the
creeping tentacles of elitism sneaking in - a good dose of the Law
of Two
Feet and a clear recognition of the Universal License of Open Space
(everybody has one by birth) should do the trick. Or something."
I would love to hear more from the person who wrote about hierarchy
in the
OST community. What is meant by "hierarchy" here?
Isn't there hierarchy everywhere? Is it a bad thing? The question
is what
kind of hierarchy do we have in the OST community? Is it a
hierarchy that
feeds us, strengthens us? And how do we choose to engage with it as a
community? Do we create the spaces to talk about the power
differentials
within our practitioner community in a way that, well, builds more
capacity
within us?
Quakers, for example, acknowledge that voices are not equal within
the life
of a Monthly Meeting. They have the concept of "weightiness" or a
"weighty
Friend." In other words, these are the elders within the Quaker
world.
And doesn't the OST world have its elders and sages?
I, too, have heard (and thought) that the OST community is the "same
old...," - heck, some of that "same oldness" shows up on the list
from time
to time- *and* I do not know of a more generous, welcoming, inspiring
facilitation community. We either choose to engage with the OST
community as
it is, or...well exercise the law of two feet.
Raffi
*
*
==========================================================
[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
Kaliya - Identity Woman
[email protected]
http://www.unconference.net
http://www.identitywoman.net
skype:identitywoman
Y!:earthwaters
AIM:[email protected]
510 472-9069 (bay area)
415 425 1136 (on the road)
*
*
==========================================================
[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
