Harrison:
I fully agree with your statement that (part of) what I wrote is"
like a pathologist reporting the conditions of dead of the University" ;-)
And, in a short period - some more months - I will be in a
situation where I will do that much more often and clearly…
But I also mentioned that most of other conferences and events, in
companies and even civic movements, have exactly the same conditions. So we are
not only talking about the death of the University, but about the death of a
highly engrained human paradigm (the 2 century old industrial and capitalist
paradigm).
And this implies, to use the term I have used here many years ago, a metanoic
process.
OST and other OST-like
ways of meeting (like unconfences in general) will have an important role. Why
do you think that I am still on this list, after 15 years, and have not
departed to other more teachable and certifiable (and, hence, sellable) ways,
be them more or less genuine or will accept that doing OST is as good as other
arts of hosting?
Regards from a sunny hot morning in Lisbon
Artur
________________________________
From: Harrison Owen <[email protected]>
To: 'Artur Silva' <[email protected]>; 'World wide Open Space Technology
email list' <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 7, 2013 9:38 PM
Subject: RE: [OSList] Fwd: Announcing The 23rd Annual Systems Thinking In
Action Conference!
Artur You are wonderful. I guess I have said that before, but I’ll say it
again! And – I couldn’t help but smile as I read your note. I know that you
were being very serious... but as I read along I couldn’t help but think that
major parts of what you wrote might be found a few years hence carved on a
monument to Academe, acknowledging its passing from the scene. Then I smiled
again when I thought that actually what you wrote read much more like a
Pathologist’s report detailing the causes and conditions of death. From where I
sit, real learning, real knowledge generation absolutely requires space... the
kind of space created by deep questions combined with the presence to sit with
those questions and savor the non-knowing. All the rest is pretty trivial.
Truth be told, Open Space Technology is Academe’s worst nightmare. It
highlights the worst failures, and even more catastrophic, good old OST
actually “works” despite the fact that it contravenes essentially all the
practices and principles of “accepted academic theory.” Just about as popular
as a Skunk at a Garden Party...
Thanks for the smiles!!
Harrison
Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Dr.
Potomac, MD 20854
USA
189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
Camden, Maine 04843
Phone 301-365-2093
(summer) 207-763-3261
www.openspaceworld.com
www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)
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From:[email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Artur Silva
Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2013 1:14 PM
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
Subject: Re: [OSList] Fwd: Announcing The 23rd Annual Systems Thinking In
Action Conference!
Hi Peggy and all:
Thanks for sharing the announcement, Peggy, and the fact that it sounded odd to
you. It doesn't sound odd to me ;-)
Let me explain why. And explain also why some comments on your post sounded odd
to me...
Please get your favorite drink for this time of the day (or night) as this will
take a while.
1. Some years ago took place in my campus of my University a (more or less)
annual conference of the "College of Computer Engineering" of the "Portuguese
Engineers Association" (Ordem dos Engenheiros - OE). I have been invited to
conduct a big part of the one and an half day event in OST. I was even made a
member of the Organizing Committee (OC) for that purpose. It must be said that,
in the mentioned College, the members are in their large majority academics and
not (real) computer engineering professionals. The idea was to profit from the
fact that the event was held at an University and with a friendly methodology
to try to have students and young engineers to joint the event and the OE. But
with the composition of the college board (5 academics and one professional) I
could not convince the OC to do all the event in OST and had to accept that the
first morning was composed of presentations. In a first moment 3 presentations
were though but than it
came to 6 because "if we invite the University of XXX, we also have to invite
someone from the University of YYY... You know that game.
6 presentations by Professors in one morning is something that will never
interest young professionals, so the attendants were mainly Professors and
their students - and some old professionals too. Myself I attended two
presentations and then went for a nap in my office. Anyhow, the dynamics of the
all event was already corrupted. The OST event (one afternoon followed by one
morning) was considered a success, but I was not very happy (there are photos
of the event at the NING).
2. On the other hand, during the years I have attended a lot of professional,
academic and civic conferences and meetings and it is always the same. In each
part, 3 or 4 presentations by "specialist" (that almost never respected the
schedule) and a very small amount of time for dialog (indeed questions and
answers) that shrinks with the retard of each presenter and, in some cases,
ends up not existing at all.
What is normally planed for each 1,5 hour session is three 20 minutes
presentations followed by 30 minutes questions or debates but it seems that
both organizers and speakers have "horror of emptiness” (the void) – “and, what
will happen, if no one asks a question?”, so they fill the void with more words.
The interesting part is that those organizers and presenters are often the ones
that say that we now live in a "knowledge society", and that "all problems
being complex, we need interdisciplinary thinking", but then forget that people
more knowledgeable than the presenter are often in the audience, and often a
multidisciplinary audience is in front of them.
3. Many unconference methods have appeared in the last years, the majority of
them having some similarities with OST, and at least respecting the OS spirit,
if not the letter of OST. When we compare this with the traditional conferences
the unconferences are, indeed, much more OPEN than the traditional ones.
4. I remember reading Harrison, more that once, tell us that he anticipates a
future where no one will talk anymore about open space technology, because open
space will be the normal way of doing meetings and conferences. I also believe
in that. But I am almost sure that those unconferences will be something that
the elders will say that "it is similar to OST, but it is not OST" or even "it
is not even similar to OST". And that is true and, for one, I am glad with
that. As any other living thing, OST will evolve in the Universal Open Space
(or the void) and it will become something different. If it is more open and
less controlled by some authorities (political, academic, or OST-ortodoxes),
than I will be happy with that.
5. Indeed I am planning to propose in the near future to some civic and
professional organizations, to stop doing conferences, and begin doing
unconferences with a model that is similar to the one that Peggy mentioned.
People can prepare papers and or presentations but there is no guaranty that
they will be accepted. There will not be a revision by their peers (that often
have lobby relations between them - and, from the references in each paper, one
can almost always discover where a paper comes from), but will be decided "by
the crowd" in an "OS way": a circle, a bulletin board, sessions announced and
the ones choosen will take place - and lets go to work. The speakers will be
allowed to make a short presentation (15 to 20 minutes is more than enough -
and, by large, much more than enough when the presentation is boring) and, in
each hour, the rest of the time is for real dialog between the participants,
the presenter having no special role in that.
6. I have not yet come out with a division of time like the one of this
Conference (18+42+30) - and I am not even convinced that an "action period" is
justified in all cases - but I know from experience that if one says to a
presenter that he/she may have 20 minutes he/she thinks that it means “not more
that 30 minutes” and will often continue speaking until someone call him/her to
order. If we say that he has 18 minutes it means that he is less than 19
minutes - and that makes a big difference! I like that.
Regards
Artur
________________________________
From:Peggy Holman <[email protected]>
To: Open Listserv <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 8:26 PM
Subject: [OSList] Fwd: Announcing The 23rd Annual Systems Thinking In Action
Conference!
I'm curious if anyone from the OS community is involved with STIA. They're
references to Open Space sure sound odd to me:
* Open Space: Most of the speakers and topics will be selected by the
attendees using Open Space technology.
>
> * Truly Open Space: STIA 2013 sessions will be truly open - 18 minutes
> of presentation followed by 42 minutes of Q&A and discussion, followed by 30
> minutes of action. Remember 18+42+30!
Speakers:
>Contact us at [email protected] to register interest and participate in
>the Open Space speaker / topic selection.
_________________________________
Peggy Holman
[email protected]
Twitter: @peggyholman
15347 SE 49th Place
Bellevue, WA 98006
425-746-6274
www.peggyholman.com
www.journalismthatmatters.org
Enjoy the award winning Engaging Emergence: Turning Upheaval into Opportunity
"An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not get burnt, is
to become
the fire".
-- Drew Dellinger
Peggy
Begin forwarded message:
From: Siraj Sirajuddin <[email protected]>
Subject: Announcing The 23rd Annual Systems Thinking In Action Conference!
Date: August 6, 2013 11:12:27 AM PDT
To: [email protected]
Reply-To: [email protected]
Not rendering correctly? View this email as a web page here.
Hi Peggy,
Announcing The 23rd Annual Systems Thinking In Action Conference!
Dear friends of STIA,
Greetings! I am honored to inform you that Temenos, LLC has acquired the
assets and title of the conference we all know well as Systems Thinking in
Action. I am humbled, and will strive to be a diligent steward of our community
as we continue the path of building our work together. I look forward to
receiving guidance from you during this journey.
I have a simple vision for this conference …"accessibility for everyone,
everywhere."
Toward that vision, I am pleased to announce the 23rd Annual Systems Thinking
In Action ® Conference, to be held at The National Conference Center (NCC) in
the Washington DC Metro Area, November 14th-16th, 2013. The conference theme
for this year is "STIA Mashup - Systems Thinking + Temenos + Individuation +
Agility."
The STIA 2013 conference will be a container of experiments, planned to test
our hypothesis about how to create conferences that are vibrant, useful and
sustainable for our communities.
* Temenos: STIA 2013 will be a fully residential conference and all
attendees, speakers and sponsors will be part of a deep, community-building
experience that will result in the creation of a compelled shared vision for
the STIA community. This vision will be presented during the conference
closing.
* Moving Keynotes: STIA 2013 will showcase some of the most prestigious
and memorable keynote speakers that have engaged previous STIA audiences. Cliff
Kayserhas graciously offered to be our opening Keynote speaker! (His powerful
speech and poetry recital moved attendees of 2012)!
* STIA Mashup: STIA 2013 will feature a creative mixture of tracks /
sessions from knowledge areas that surround, enhance and complement Systems
Thinking. “STIA Mashup = Systems Thinking + Temenos + Individuation + Agility”.
* Accessible Pricing: The STIA 2013 registration fee will be $99 for
the first month only to enable anyone to participate! (There is an additional
$800 residential fee which is inclusive of lodging and meals for all
registrants.)
* Open Space: Most of the speakers and topics will be selected by the
attendees using Open Space technology.
* Truly Open Space: STIA 2013 sessions will be truly open - 18 minutes
of presentation followed by 42 minutes of Q&A and discussion, followed by 30
minutes of action. Remember 18+42+30!
* Breathing Space: STIA 2013 will have a sustainable pace. We will have
a 30 minute break between each session for debriefing and relaxation. There
will be no need to rush between sessions and meeting rooms. This conference
will promote the enjoyment of networking and afford attendees the time to take
in the outside nature.
* Open Pre-Conferences: All participants are welcome to create, market
and facilitate Pre-Conference Workshops, Events, Seminars, and Labs, keeping in
mind the agreement of a $99 registration fee per participant.
Attendee Registration
HURRY! The first registration wave of Early Bird Pricing for $99 is now open
and will last only through August 30. Please register here STIA 2013
registration. All special requests will be considered for meals and lodging
and should be referred to our conference planner, Michelle at
[email protected] who will do her best to accommodate your needs.
Speakers:
Contact us at [email protected] to register interest and participate in
the Open Space speaker / topic selection. You may also reach out to our
Conference Planner, Michelle Dosa at [email protected] to share your ideas.
Michelle will be your main point of contact once you are confirmed as a guest
speaker. Compensation is limited, consisting of waived registration and
residential fee inclusive of lodging and meals. If you would like to read more
about Open Space Conferencing, please refer to this wikipedia page link.
Sponsors / Partners:
Please contact us at [email protected] to discuss unique sponsorship
arrangements for this amazing and dynamic conference. We will not “template”
sponsor packages, thus each sponsorship consideration is viewed as a unique
arrangement with us to maximize attendee - sponsor engagement and value.
Calling all future STIA hosts:
I am inspired by the format of TED, where I see very few global events
organized by the organization and most of the action is local / regional by the
licensees of TED. It would bring me great joy to see an STIA event in every
country of the world! If you are interested in organizing a local STIA event,
please reach out to me personally, to share your hypothesis about a useful
conference in your community, and to discuss which experiments you would like
to run on behalf of your community.
Thank you very much and I look forward to seeing you at STIA 2013!
My very best,
Siraj Sirajuddin
Founder, Temenos LLC
Member, Society for Organizational Learning
Temenos, LLC.
1934 Old Gallows Road, Ste 350
Vienna VA 22182
Email: [email protected]
Conference Planner
Michelle Dosa
Chase Productions, LLC
[email protected]
www.chaseaudiovisual.com
#STIA2013
Temenos, LLC 1934 Old Gallows Road Vienna VA 22182 USA
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