…and there are other places and spaces for conversations connected to OST, such as
A Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/7189220743
On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/81286/
And many local spaces too.
Still the OSlist has and is THE most juicy place to go/be for me.
So, I guess Harrisons 5th principle, Where ever it happens… applies here too.
Thomas
Från: Skye via OSList everyone@oslist.org
Skickat: den 9 februari 2025 11:57
Till: Michael Herman michael@michaelherman.com; Chris Corrigan chris.corrigan@gmail.com
Kopia: withlovebycari@gmail.com; douglasgermann douglasgermann@proton.me; Open Space Olist everyone@oslist.org
Ämne: [OSList] Re: Where are the youth? And the mysterious mechanics of OSlist (Original subject: Fwd: I want to receive feedback)
AMEN and thank you Michael.
On Sun, Feb 9, 2025, at 1:14 AM, Michael Herman via OSList wrote:
harrison used to remind us every now and then to take our wrist watches off before stepping into the circle, lest we unconsciously glance at it while we are telling everyone that "whenever it starts is the right time." we could be similarly careful here at what feels like the edge of "whoever comes is the right people."
years ago i opened a 4-hour, after school space for 35 young people, ages 12-22 in Racine, Wisconsin. a couple weeks later, they ran another for themselves, with 70 kids. a few weeks after that, having generated a bunch of things to do, they opened a third space, but started inviting parents and other helpers with cars, who they saw as necessary to advancing their work. they soon became the largest YMCA Earth Service Corps chapter in the country (one of their emergent themes was environment). They got in the newspaper a number of times and got a skateboard park built in the best lakefront (Lake Michigan) park right near downtown, exactly where business leaders had been trying to keep them out. They went to a national conference and told their story. The conference organizers cancelled a half day of the conference and asked the Racine kids to open the space for the 500+ at the conference. After that, we know some of those folks went home and ran their own OS meetings and initiatives.
Similarly, I opened space for the 2008 Scrum Gathering in Chicago. Three participants rode the train home together and hatched a plan to use open space to end what they'd come to call the "death march," as management was pushing them to finish a year of work in just six months. In short, it worked brilliantly. And then they made it a regular part of the Agile user group learning sessions they run monthly.
no doubt you have your own stories of where people saw what you did and immediately understood enough of it to go off and just do it. this is how it's supposed to be! it's supposed to be transparent, deeply familiar, easy to try and get some good results. it's supposed to be able to spread around the world without a marketing budget and organizing body, without certifications and teachers. not that trainings and listserves are bad... only that they are extra!
ultimately, the best way to open more space is to open more space.
as chris mentioned, we tried the ost hashtag, and it went nowhere. we linked to flickr photos, but now that hashtag and collection is virtually unusable, full of junk. when the oslist started, email was new and social media was non-existent. today, we're awash in all of it... and it's all open space. beautiful and horrible! people in offices are scheduling which days they'll overlap in the office, like the office is just another corner of the room. one of harrison's definitions of os was "when the old thing is finished or collapsing, and the new thing hasn't started yet." by this measure, we're swimming in open space!
so one question for me is "what have we learned in the last 40 years of meeting/working in open space, that might be useful to so many people who are coming into it for the first time?" what have we learned about calling circles and riding waves and inviting organization in the middle of what feels super chaotic? when tibet was crushed under the weight of chinese occupation, tibetan buddhism turned outward, expanded globally in ways it never could have from inside of tibet. if the turmoil of today's workplaces and communities is making it hard to bring people into the oslist we've always had, how do we reimagine our conversations? maybe we shouldn't be bringing people in... how do we go out, and meet these new people, young people, whatever... wherever they are? each of us, wherever we are. how can we join their work, inviting and convening? wherever it happens is the right place, after all.
open space technology was only ever a halfway solution. maybe like a way to arrange the game board. but the real game is transformation. learning. community. spirit. how can we remember to look for, offer and support these big games, beyond the methodology and our own cozy circle? when i see the world churning, i don't think to myself, "i need to go check the oslist." i start thinking about calling old clients, local colleagues, neighbors, community organizations -- looking for places to be useful. i'm glad the list is here, just what it is and as it is. i love that we've all been so marvelously connected, around the world and sometimes across cafe and kitchen tables for so many years. but the game is out there! my brother's first job out of college was selling lift trucks. every morning at 7:30, his boss would storm through the sales guys' workspace yelling, "get out of here! nobody here is going to buy any lift trucks!"
so more than "how do we bring others into the list, or some new platform(s), to sip our koolaid with us..." it seems to me more immediately actionable to acknowledge that we are the ones we have, maybe there's only a few of any of you still reading here now! the right people! <grin> and however many will read this far... "what are the issues and opportunities for you, me, each of us and all of us, to get out more, to share the spirit of os and the oslist, wherever in the world we might be needed?" and if some of us can come back and share some of our stories and learnings from that, whatever happens here and in the world will be the only thing that could have! ...until it's over, or we are, or something.
m
--
Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
312-280-7838 (mobile)
MichaelHerman.comhttp://MichaelHerman.com
OpenSpaceWorld.orghttp://OpenSpaceWorld.org
On Sat, Feb 8, 2025 at 8:59 PM Chris Corrigan via OSList <everyone@oslist.orgmailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
Years ago we started using the hashtag #OpenSpaceTech for social media posts about OST. We could certainly go back to that and perhaps someone more tech wavy than I could build a feed onto the Open Space World website or at least link to uses of that hashtag elsewhere. That website already has a link to all the photos on Flickr with that tag.
I once worked on an intragenerational community project. The community organizer who is running the project used 14 different methods to keep the group together. The group was a mix of youth adults and seniors and they used everything from Snapchat to Facebook to Twitter to email to texts and even sent out information by snail mail. She spent a huge amount of her time trying to knit everybody together across these platforms and she did a great job doing it.
I’ve been fond of saying lately that we’ve never been more connected, and we’ve felt further apart. It is hard to convene people in asynchronous conversations these days in any form.
Chris.
On Feb 8, 2025, at 5:50 PM, Cari via OSList <everyone@oslist.orgmailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
Thanks for this clarity Peggy and everyone
I think there needs to simply be a 'what are we seeking' answer that would then give the best direction as to 'where it belongs'.
Yes there are many many options of social media sources that we can rate by effectiveness but also corrosiveness that can narrow things down
BUT to begin what is the purpose of the email list?
To inform - to educate - to connect etc ...
If we have a good understanding of what everyone seeks from this list and connection it would give us a better direction as to where it is best placed
IMHO
my heart walks with yours,
CARI TAYLOR
Author: One Living System, Life’s sacred language and our collective journey.
Voice for Life: Living Systems education
Counsellor and Consultant: health and wellbeing for People, Planet, Place and the padfoot, wings and claws who roam ...
One Living Systemhttps://onelivingsystem.cari-taylor.com/?v=2.1
[https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/mail-sig/AIorK4zz_L1pxWlbsXOjU4bf8tyff4fnXcXNmueZFzPVA5-Pv6oZCTJz7Poim8Dy0f_1NE9EPk8CHG_FWOvX]
Web: www.cari-taylor.com http://www.cari-taylor.com
Substack: https://onelivingsystem.substack.com/
Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/cari.
[https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/mail-sig/AIorK4wQZPcU9Dz_SM0UMF1fTEy01p7nZd4mJDsJoOhFIgcan0S0I9ltcUxgAuAVLLyUhUifCb8I8L0]
Recognising the elders past present and emerging of the Kaurna people whose unceded country I work, live and play on. Respecting the land of 'so called Australia' as always was always will be First Nations land.
Acknowledging diversity and equity in justice for the LGBTIQ+ community
On Sun, Feb 9, 2025 at 9:22 AM douglasgermann via OSList <everyone@oslist.orgmailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
I too cannot use Facebook. From what I see in various places, it seems it is becoming toxic.
:- Doug. Germann
(One of the old ones)
On Saturday, February 8th, 2025 at 1:34 PM, Peggy Holman via OSList <everyone@oslist.orgmailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
Hi all,
On January 30, Juan Luis posed a question on why he doesn’t see messages he sends to the OS list and why some replies come just to him and some go to the OSlist. It eventually wandered into a conversation off the list. It also moved into a conversation about who participates on the list. Some of both these themes seemed important to bring back to the list.
I’ve captured highlights of the conversation and, after checking with the conversation participants, the whole message thread below is for any who want the read the full exchange.
I am bringing this conversation back to the list mainly because of a question that surfaced for me:
How do we attract a mix of ages into the conversation that the OSlist currently supports?
By age, I mean primarily chronological age but also experience with Open Space. My perception is that participants who post on OSlist are predominantly older (over 50). As the recent exchange with Isaac modeled, I think our community is most vibrant when a mix of ages are in the conversation. (I don’t actually know how old Isaac is! I’m making an assumption that he is under 50.)
Julius, who is 31 and says he is not typical for his age in his technology use, offered this suggestion:
Let's not expect to attract more people through changing platforms. Let's do what serves us best and trust that with the help of bumblebees and butterflies, things will go a good way? :)
Julius may have the simplest solution. Still, I wonder if it is possible to keep the OSlist AND create a distribution mechanism so that people can choose the platform through which they receive and send OSlist messages?
What are your thoughts?
Appreciatively,
Peggy
P.S. To my fellow off-list conversation partners: If I’ve missed something you think important, please bring it up!!
HIGHLIGHTS from the off-list exchange (bolding from me)
How our email platform works
* the OSList *does* send emails to the sender...Blocking the sender from receiving their own email...is a "feature" of Google's GMail and some other email vendors….This issue is not being caused by the OSList software (which is open source GNU Mailman 3.0)… I do believe email can be a freer communication technology more in the spirit of Open Space than the more "reliable" vendor solutions like Facebook, Slack, etc. I know people are talking about this, and I do see value in 2 Feet experiments. But hopefully we won't give up on email.
* I for one can't use Facebook...something to do with the technology on their end…. Slack opens up too many other file and space possibilities that are overwhelming to a relative digital dinosaur like me
* ...when I get an email from the oslist and click respond, I have to check that it is addressed to the oslist before sending it off...in my email program (Outlook) it is addressed to the person who wrote it not the oslist...So check before sending.
* ….seeing emails from other people not getting posted to the OSList. There are a few possibilities:
Attracting younger people to the list...
* ...we attract fewer young people to the list because they use email less. So I hope we can find a way to bridge to whatever platform(s) they are using...wouldn’t it be great if there were a distribution mechanism so that people can choose the platform where they receive OSlist messages?
* I know of no open source solution that could provide email AND some other more controlled delivery system at this point. The closed source solutions are very susceptible to external control that are not in alignment (in my view) with Open Space.
* If we do what you suggest at this point, we're giving the control of the content of our platform to one private corporation or another. It may seem convenient, but I do believe there is a very robust dialog emerging around how we can have security and privacy and also freedom of speech. Simple email is not perfect, and it's pretty low tech, but email is still the best tech for this.
* As someone working with computers since 1978, what I am seeing is that, email, a foundational basic communication technology, is under assault and it's not being protected by the big technology gate keepers. If more of us users would grow our education, my own sense is that fewer of us would trust Google, Facebook, Microsoft and even Apple and the emerging solutions would gain more adoption. There are new players emerging that are serving those seeing these issues. I can recommend ProtonMail and do my best to defend continuing with the Open Source GNU Mail platform, but not everyone is ready to look at this issue fully.
* Hopefully these conversations will motivate more dialog and more education.
* That's not to say people shouldn't play with other closed source solutions. I'm just not seeing them as the best path for our community.
* ...I am 31 and probably part of the generation, the OSList members would consider "young”…
* I believe finding platforms that suit all generations is not feasible and it makes more sense to leave it to the greater intelligence to enable community and knowledge transfer despite of all the diversification.
* Let's not expect to attract more people through changing platforms. Let's do what serves us best and trust that with the help of bumblebees and butterflies, things will go a good way? :)
THE ORIGINAL EXCHANGE (I think I caught all of the messages…)
On Feb 6, 2025, at 4:49 PM, Harold Shinsato <harold@shinsato.commailto:harold@shinsato.com> wrote:
Hi Juan Luis,
My apology for the late reply.
It is important to get to the source cause. No need to apologize. But I do need to see the specific case. Only then I can see what is happening and have a chance at addressing the issue.
I do seem to have missed the issue that you made clear in your last note. I apologize for missing that you are seeing emails from other people not getting posted to the OSList. There are a few possibilities:
Something else could also be going on. I need someone to forward me the specific email that did not go through (forwarded as an attachment so I can see the email headers.)
Harold
On Feb 5, 2025, at 11:58 PM, Thomas Herrmann <thomas@openspaceconsulting.commailto:thomas@openspaceconsulting.com> wrote:
Yes I recognize this topic and as I understand it, when I get an email from the oslist and click respond, I have to check that it is addressed to the oslist before sending it off. It happens in my email program (Outlook) that it is addressed to the person who wrote it and not the oslist. Then of course it does not go to the oslist.
So check before sending is my advice. My non-techie understanding is that it may have to do with our emailprogram making choices 😊
Cheers
Thomas
On 2/5/25 4:05 PM, juanluiswalker@gmail.commailto:juanluiswalker@gmail.com wrote:
Dear Harold,
Product of this exchange, I´m very happy to know that my messages are received effectively in the OSlist, but my doubt know is why some persons respond to that but it doesn't appears in the OSlist and only goes to my Inbox of my Gmail?
Sorry about my insistence,
Juan Luis
Begin forwarded message:
From: Peggy Holman <peggy@peggyholman.commailto:peggy@peggyholman.com>
Subject: Re: I want to receive feedback
Date: February 2, 2025 at 10:31:32 AM PST
To: Julius Tacha <julius.tacha@posteo.atmailto:julius.tacha@posteo.at>
Cc: Harold Shinsato <harold@shinsato.commailto:harold@shinsato.com>, Magdalena Valderrama Hurwitz <magdalenavh@gmail.commailto:magdalenavh@gmail.com>, juanluiswalker@gmail.commailto:juanluiswalker@gmail.com, Anna Caroline Türk <annacaroline@truthcircles.commailto:annacaroline@truthcircles.com>, marc@likebreathin.commailto:marc@likebreathin.com, tgb417@gmail.commailto:tgb417@gmail.com, Funda Oral <fundaoral@gmail.commailto:fundaoral@gmail.com>, isaac a <isaac48@hotmail.commailto:isaac48@hotmail.com>
Thank you for speaking up Julius. I value hearing your perspective. And always appreciate what Harold brings to the conversation.
I’m sorry this exchange isn’t happening on the OSlist. I’d like to move it there by forwarding this message thread with an introduction that summarizes the challenges Harold raises, Julius’ perspective on younger people (for me, that is under age 50), and the dilemma of losing people who don’t use email.
Does anyone have an issue with my doing that?
Appreciatively,
Peggy
On Feb 2, 2025, at 10:28 AM, Julius Tacha <julius.tacha@posteo.atmailto:julius.tacha@posteo.at> wrote:
I forgot Harold in my reply. Here again for all including Harold.
Also thank you for your last contribution. I whole heartedly agree. :)
--- my original message ---
Dear Juan Luis, dear all,
concerning your P.S.:
Yes, in my case this was because I just replied to you and not the whole list. I guess it was the same with the others, since I didn't receive theirs. Anna Caroline's I received, as it was sent to the list. So everything working as intended in that regard, I suppose.
With regard to your question:
Do you use a mail client on a desktop computer, an app on your smartphone or the webmail solution in a browser?
Maybe having a locally stored email program like Thunderbird would solve the problem? I would assume it can save your outgoing emails in a "Sent" folder independently on whether the email providers show it in your webmail.
On platforms in general and Peggy's hypothesis:
I don't know whether it is the technology that is the reason for few(er) young people ending up in the folds of the Open Space Facilitation community.
I don't know who you are referring to when you say "young". I am 31 and probably part of the generation, the OSList members would consider "young". But then technoligy-vise I don't behave "young". I'm not on Facebook. Neither on Whatsapp, Instagram, or TikTok. The latter don't enable more in-depth exchange anyway. So I am happy to miss out and trust, that the relevant information from my peers still finds me.
For activism and newsletters Telegram and Signal are the platforms where a lot of self-organization is happening. Less than on Whatsapp I guess, but still a critical mass of people. You could say that a meetibg of generations is happening there, but also it is not furthering focus and presence so much.
However:
I do not consider myself member of the young generation. The platforms young people use, change every few years and using your own kind of platform - the one your parent's generation won't be on - might be just a deliberate choice. I believe finding platforms that suit all generations is not feasible and it makes more sense to leave it to the greater intelligence to enable community and knowledge transfer despite of all the diversification.
So what I am trying to say is:
Let's not expect to attract more people through changing platforms. Let's do what serves us best and trust that with the help of bumblebees and butterflies, things will go a good way? :)
Okay, sorry for rambling.
Wish you all a sweet evening. :)
[1]
https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient
[2] https://shinsato.com/
[3] https://shinsato.com
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Skye HIrst, PhD
Just-in-Time Conversations
jitcc.orghttp://jitcc.org
"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Viktor Frankl
"Nature ever flows, stands never still. Motion or change is her mode of existence." Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Human Beings must always be on the watch for the coming of wonder." EB White
Oooh! I didn't know about these, or I've been very selective in taking in information. Must pay more attention. Thanks for letting me know. I've joined them.
Isaac
From: Thomas Herrmann via OSList everyone@oslist.org
Sent: 09 February 2025 12:29
To: Open Space Olist everyone@oslist.org
Subject: [OSList] Re: Where are the youth? And the mysterious mechanics of OSlist (Original subject: Fwd: I want to receive feedback)
…and there are other places and spaces for conversations connected to OST, such as
A Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/7189220743
On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/81286/
And many local spaces too.
Still the OSlist has and is THE most juicy place to go/be for me.
So, I guess Harrisons 5th principle, Where ever it happens… applies here too.
Thomas
Från: Skye via OSList everyone@oslist.org
Skickat: den 9 februari 2025 11:57
Till: Michael Herman michael@michaelherman.com; Chris Corrigan chris.corrigan@gmail.com
Kopia: withlovebycari@gmail.com; douglasgermann douglasgermann@proton.me; Open Space Olist everyone@oslist.org
Ämne: [OSList] Re: Where are the youth? And the mysterious mechanics of OSlist (Original subject: Fwd: I want to receive feedback)
AMEN and thank you Michael.
On Sun, Feb 9, 2025, at 1:14 AM, Michael Herman via OSList wrote:
harrison used to remind us every now and then to take our wrist watches off before stepping into the circle, lest we unconsciously glance at it while we are telling everyone that "whenever it starts is the right time." we could be similarly careful here at what feels like the edge of "whoever comes is the right people."
years ago i opened a 4-hour, after school space for 35 young people, ages 12-22 in Racine, Wisconsin. a couple weeks later, they ran another for themselves, with 70 kids. a few weeks after that, having generated a bunch of things to do, they opened a third space, but started inviting parents and other helpers with cars, who they saw as necessary to advancing their work. they soon became the largest YMCA Earth Service Corps chapter in the country (one of their emergent themes was environment). They got in the newspaper a number of times and got a skateboard park built in the best lakefront (Lake Michigan) park right near downtown, exactly where business leaders had been trying to keep them out. They went to a national conference and told their story. The conference organizers cancelled a half day of the conference and asked the Racine kids to open the space for the 500+ at the conference. After that, we know some of those folks went home and ran their own OS meetings and initiatives.
Similarly, I opened space for the 2008 Scrum Gathering in Chicago. Three participants rode the train home together and hatched a plan to use open space to end what they'd come to call the "death march," as management was pushing them to finish a year of work in just six months. In short, it worked brilliantly. And then they made it a regular part of the Agile user group learning sessions they run monthly.
no doubt you have your own stories of where people saw what you did and immediately understood enough of it to go off and just do it. this is how it's supposed to be! it's supposed to be transparent, deeply familiar, easy to try and get some good results. it's supposed to be able to spread around the world without a marketing budget and organizing body, without certifications and teachers. not that trainings and listserves are bad... only that they are extra!
ultimately, the best way to open more space is to open more space.
as chris mentioned, we tried the ost hashtag, and it went nowhere. we linked to flickr photos, but now that hashtag and collection is virtually unusable, full of junk. when the oslist started, email was new and social media was non-existent. today, we're awash in all of it... and it's all open space. beautiful and horrible! people in offices are scheduling which days they'll overlap in the office, like the office is just another corner of the room. one of harrison's definitions of os was "when the old thing is finished or collapsing, and the new thing hasn't started yet." by this measure, we're swimming in open space!
so one question for me is "what have we learned in the last 40 years of meeting/working in open space, that might be useful to so many people who are coming into it for the first time?" what have we learned about calling circles and riding waves and inviting organization in the middle of what feels super chaotic? when tibet was crushed under the weight of chinese occupation, tibetan buddhism turned outward, expanded globally in ways it never could have from inside of tibet. if the turmoil of today's workplaces and communities is making it hard to bring people into the oslist we've always had, how do we reimagine our conversations? maybe we shouldn't be bringing people in... how do we go out, and meet these new people, young people, whatever... wherever they are? each of us, wherever we are. how can we join their work, inviting and convening? wherever it happens is the right place, after all.
open space technology was only ever a halfway solution. maybe like a way to arrange the game board. but the real game is transformation. learning. community. spirit. how can we remember to look for, offer and support these big games, beyond the methodology and our own cozy circle? when i see the world churning, i don't think to myself, "i need to go check the oslist." i start thinking about calling old clients, local colleagues, neighbors, community organizations -- looking for places to be useful. i'm glad the list is here, just what it is and as it is. i love that we've all been so marvelously connected, around the world and sometimes across cafe and kitchen tables for so many years. but the game is out there! my brother's first job out of college was selling lift trucks. every morning at 7:30, his boss would storm through the sales guys' workspace yelling, "get out of here! nobody here is going to buy any lift trucks!"
so more than "how do we bring others into the list, or some new platform(s), to sip our koolaid with us..." it seems to me more immediately actionable to acknowledge that we are the ones we have, maybe there's only a few of any of you still reading here now! the right people! <grin> and however many will read this far... "what are the issues and opportunities for you, me, each of us and all of us, to get out more, to share the spirit of os and the oslist, wherever in the world we might be needed?" and if some of us can come back and share some of our stories and learnings from that, whatever happens here and in the world will be the only thing that could have! ...until it's over, or we are, or something.
m
--
Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
312-280-7838 (mobile)
MichaelHerman.comhttp://MichaelHerman.com
OpenSpaceWorld.orghttp://OpenSpaceWorld.org
On Sat, Feb 8, 2025 at 8:59 PM Chris Corrigan via OSList <everyone@oslist.orgmailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
Years ago we started using the hashtag #OpenSpaceTech for social media posts about OST. We could certainly go back to that and perhaps someone more tech wavy than I could build a feed onto the Open Space World website or at least link to uses of that hashtag elsewhere. That website already has a link to all the photos on Flickr with that tag.
I once worked on an intragenerational community project. The community organizer who is running the project used 14 different methods to keep the group together. The group was a mix of youth adults and seniors and they used everything from Snapchat to Facebook to Twitter to email to texts and even sent out information by snail mail. She spent a huge amount of her time trying to knit everybody together across these platforms and she did a great job doing it.
I’ve been fond of saying lately that we’ve never been more connected, and we’ve felt further apart. It is hard to convene people in asynchronous conversations these days in any form.
Chris.
On Feb 8, 2025, at 5:50 PM, Cari via OSList <everyone@oslist.orgmailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
Thanks for this clarity Peggy and everyone
I think there needs to simply be a 'what are we seeking' answer that would then give the best direction as to 'where it belongs'.
Yes there are many many options of social media sources that we can rate by effectiveness but also corrosiveness that can narrow things down
BUT to begin what is the purpose of the email list?
To inform - to educate - to connect etc ...
If we have a good understanding of what everyone seeks from this list and connection it would give us a better direction as to where it is best placed
IMHO
my heart walks with yours,
CARI TAYLOR
Author: One Living System, Life’s sacred language and our collective journey.
Voice for Life: Living Systems education
Counsellor and Consultant: health and wellbeing for People, Planet, Place and the padfoot, wings and claws who roam ...
One Living Systemhttps://onelivingsystem.cari-taylor.com/?v=2.1
[https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/mail-sig/AIorK4zz_L1pxWlbsXOjU4bf8tyff4fnXcXNmueZFzPVA5-Pv6oZCTJz7Poim8Dy0f_1NE9EPk8CHG_FWOvX]
Web: www.cari-taylor.com http://www.cari-taylor.com
Substack: https://onelivingsystem.substack.com/
Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/cari.
[https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/mail-sig/AIorK4wQZPcU9Dz_SM0UMF1fTEy01p7nZd4mJDsJoOhFIgcan0S0I9ltcUxgAuAVLLyUhUifCb8I8L0]
Recognising the elders past present and emerging of the Kaurna people whose unceded country I work, live and play on. Respecting the land of 'so called Australia' as always was always will be First Nations land.
Acknowledging diversity and equity in justice for the LGBTIQ+ community
On Sun, Feb 9, 2025 at 9:22 AM douglasgermann via OSList <everyone@oslist.orgmailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
I too cannot use Facebook. From what I see in various places, it seems it is becoming toxic.
:- Doug. Germann
(One of the old ones)
On Saturday, February 8th, 2025 at 1:34 PM, Peggy Holman via OSList <everyone@oslist.orgmailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
Hi all,
On January 30, Juan Luis posed a question on why he doesn’t see messages he sends to the OS list and why some replies come just to him and some go to the OSlist. It eventually wandered into a conversation off the list. It also moved into a conversation about who participates on the list. Some of both these themes seemed important to bring back to the list.
I’ve captured highlights of the conversation and, after checking with the conversation participants, the whole message thread below is for any who want the read the full exchange.
I am bringing this conversation back to the list mainly because of a question that surfaced for me:
How do we attract a mix of ages into the conversation that the OSlist currently supports?
By age, I mean primarily chronological age but also experience with Open Space. My perception is that participants who post on OSlist are predominantly older (over 50). As the recent exchange with Isaac modeled, I think our community is most vibrant when a mix of ages are in the conversation. (I don’t actually know how old Isaac is! I’m making an assumption that he is under 50.)
Julius, who is 31 and says he is not typical for his age in his technology use, offered this suggestion:
Let's not expect to attract more people through changing platforms. Let's do what serves us best and trust that with the help of bumblebees and butterflies, things will go a good way? :)
Julius may have the simplest solution. Still, I wonder if it is possible to keep the OSlist AND create a distribution mechanism so that people can choose the platform through which they receive and send OSlist messages?
What are your thoughts?
Appreciatively,
Peggy
P.S. To my fellow off-list conversation partners: If I’ve missed something you think important, please bring it up!!
HIGHLIGHTS from the off-list exchange (bolding from me)
How our email platform works
* the OSList *does* send emails to the sender...Blocking the sender from receiving their own email...is a "feature" of Google's GMail and some other email vendors….This issue is not being caused by the OSList software (which is open source GNU Mailman 3.0)… I do believe email can be a freer communication technology more in the spirit of Open Space than the more "reliable" vendor solutions like Facebook, Slack, etc. I know people are talking about this, and I do see value in 2 Feet experiments. But hopefully we won't give up on email.
* I for one can't use Facebook...something to do with the technology on their end…. Slack opens up too many other file and space possibilities that are overwhelming to a relative digital dinosaur like me
* ...when I get an email from the oslist and click respond, I have to check that it is addressed to the oslist before sending it off...in my email program (Outlook) it is addressed to the person who wrote it not the oslist...So check before sending.
* ….seeing emails from other people not getting posted to the OSList. There are a few possibilities:
Attracting younger people to the list...
* ...we attract fewer young people to the list because they use email less. So I hope we can find a way to bridge to whatever platform(s) they are using...wouldn’t it be great if there were a distribution mechanism so that people can choose the platform where they receive OSlist messages?
* I know of no open source solution that could provide email AND some other more controlled delivery system at this point. The closed source solutions are very susceptible to external control that are not in alignment (in my view) with Open Space.
* If we do what you suggest at this point, we're giving the control of the content of our platform to one private corporation or another. It may seem convenient, but I do believe there is a very robust dialog emerging around how we can have security and privacy and also freedom of speech. Simple email is not perfect, and it's pretty low tech, but email is still the best tech for this.
* As someone working with computers since 1978, what I am seeing is that, email, a foundational basic communication technology, is under assault and it's not being protected by the big technology gate keepers. If more of us users would grow our education, my own sense is that fewer of us would trust Google, Facebook, Microsoft and even Apple and the emerging solutions would gain more adoption. There are new players emerging that are serving those seeing these issues. I can recommend ProtonMail and do my best to defend continuing with the Open Source GNU Mail platform, but not everyone is ready to look at this issue fully.
* Hopefully these conversations will motivate more dialog and more education.
* That's not to say people shouldn't play with other closed source solutions. I'm just not seeing them as the best path for our community.
* ...I am 31 and probably part of the generation, the OSList members would consider "young”…
* I believe finding platforms that suit all generations is not feasible and it makes more sense to leave it to the greater intelligence to enable community and knowledge transfer despite of all the diversification.
* Let's not expect to attract more people through changing platforms. Let's do what serves us best and trust that with the help of bumblebees and butterflies, things will go a good way? :)
THE ORIGINAL EXCHANGE (I think I caught all of the messages…)
On Feb 6, 2025, at 4:49 PM, Harold Shinsato <harold@shinsato.commailto:harold@shinsato.com> wrote:
Hi Juan Luis,
My apology for the late reply.
It is important to get to the source cause. No need to apologize. But I do need to see the specific case. Only then I can see what is happening and have a chance at addressing the issue.
I do seem to have missed the issue that you made clear in your last note. I apologize for missing that you are seeing emails from other people not getting posted to the OSList. There are a few possibilities:
As Thomas Herrmann said, if people reply to you, they may not be copying the OSList. Of course then it would not go through.
If the email is too large (larger than a megabyte) it will go to moderation and not go through. The sender will get a message about this.
If there are too many recipients (more than 10), it will go to moderation and not go through. The sender will also get a message about this. I notice 11 people are involved in this dialog - and that may be the most likely cause.
Something else could also be going on. I need someone to forward me the specific email that did not go through (forwarded as an attachment so I can see the email headers.)
Harold
On Feb 5, 2025, at 11:58 PM, Thomas Herrmann <thomas@openspaceconsulting.commailto:thomas@openspaceconsulting.com> wrote:
Yes I recognize this topic and as I understand it, when I get an email from the oslist and click respond, I have to check that it is addressed to the oslist before sending it off. It happens in my email program (Outlook) that it is addressed to the person who wrote it and not the oslist. Then of course it does not go to the oslist.
So check before sending is my advice. My non-techie understanding is that it may have to do with our emailprogram making choices 😊
Cheers
Thomas
On 2/5/25 4:05 PM, juanluiswalker@gmail.commailto:juanluiswalker@gmail.com wrote:
Dear Harold,
Product of this exchange, I´m very happy to know that my messages are received effectively in the OSlist, but my doubt know is why some persons respond to that but it doesn't appears in the OSlist and only goes to my Inbox of my Gmail?
Sorry about my insistence,
Juan Luis
Begin forwarded message:
From: Peggy Holman <peggy@peggyholman.commailto:peggy@peggyholman.com>
Subject: Re: I want to receive feedback
Date: February 2, 2025 at 10:31:32 AM PST
To: Julius Tacha <julius.tacha@posteo.atmailto:julius.tacha@posteo.at>
Cc: Harold Shinsato <harold@shinsato.commailto:harold@shinsato.com>, Magdalena Valderrama Hurwitz <magdalenavh@gmail.commailto:magdalenavh@gmail.com>, juanluiswalker@gmail.commailto:juanluiswalker@gmail.com, Anna Caroline Türk <annacaroline@truthcircles.commailto:annacaroline@truthcircles.com>, marc@likebreathin.commailto:marc@likebreathin.com, tgb417@gmail.commailto:tgb417@gmail.com, Funda Oral <fundaoral@gmail.commailto:fundaoral@gmail.com>, isaac a <isaac48@hotmail.commailto:isaac48@hotmail.com>
Thank you for speaking up Julius. I value hearing your perspective. And always appreciate what Harold brings to the conversation.
I’m sorry this exchange isn’t happening on the OSlist. I’d like to move it there by forwarding this message thread with an introduction that summarizes the challenges Harold raises, Julius’ perspective on younger people (for me, that is under age 50), and the dilemma of losing people who don’t use email.
Does anyone have an issue with my doing that?
Appreciatively,
Peggy
On Feb 2, 2025, at 10:28 AM, Julius Tacha <julius.tacha@posteo.atmailto:julius.tacha@posteo.at> wrote:
I forgot Harold in my reply. Here again for all including Harold.
Also thank you for your last contribution. I whole heartedly agree. :)
--- my original message ---
Dear Juan Luis, dear all,
concerning your P.S.:
Yes, in my case this was because I just replied to you and not the whole list. I guess it was the same with the others, since I didn't receive theirs. Anna Caroline's I received, as it was sent to the list. So everything working as intended in that regard, I suppose.
With regard to your question:
Do you use a mail client on a desktop computer, an app on your smartphone or the webmail solution in a browser?
Maybe having a locally stored email program like Thunderbird would solve the problem? I would assume it can save your outgoing emails in a "Sent" folder independently on whether the email providers show it in your webmail.
On platforms in general and Peggy's hypothesis:
I don't know whether it is the technology that is the reason for few(er) young people ending up in the folds of the Open Space Facilitation community.
I don't know who you are referring to when you say "young". I am 31 and probably part of the generation, the OSList members would consider "young". But then technoligy-vise I don't behave "young". I'm not on Facebook. Neither on Whatsapp, Instagram, or TikTok. The latter don't enable more in-depth exchange anyway. So I am happy to miss out and trust, that the relevant information from my peers still finds me.
For activism and newsletters Telegram and Signal are the platforms where a lot of self-organization is happening. Less than on Whatsapp I guess, but still a critical mass of people. You could say that a meetibg of generations is happening there, but also it is not furthering focus and presence so much.
However:
I do not consider myself member of the young generation. The platforms young people use, change every few years and using your own kind of platform - the one your parent's generation won't be on - might be just a deliberate choice. I believe finding platforms that suit all generations is not feasible and it makes more sense to leave it to the greater intelligence to enable community and knowledge transfer despite of all the diversification.
So what I am trying to say is:
Let's not expect to attract more people through changing platforms. Let's do what serves us best and trust that with the help of bumblebees and butterflies, things will go a good way? :)
Okay, sorry for rambling.
Wish you all a sweet evening. :)
Julius
Am 02.02.2025 19:17 schrieb Harold Shinsato:
Hi Peggy,
I do understand the appeal and the need. I know of no open source
solution that could provide email AND some other more controlled
delivery system at this point. The closed source solutions are very
susceptible to external control that are not in alignment (in my view)
with Open Space.
If we do what you suggest at this point, we're giving the control of
the content of our platform to one private corporation or another. It
may seem convenient, but I do believe there is a very robust dialog
emerging around how we can have security and privacy and also freedom
of speech. Simple email is not perfect, and it's pretty low tech, but
email is still the best tech for this.
As someone working with computers since 1978, what I am seeing is
that, email, a foundational basic communication technology, is under
assault and it's not being protected by the big technology gate
keepers. If more of us users would grow our education, my own sense is
that fewer of us would trust Google, Facebook, Microsoft and even
Apple and the emerging solutions would gain more adoption. There are
new players emerging that are serving those seeing these issues. I can
recommend ProtonMail and do my best to defend continuing with the Open
Source GNU Mail platform, but not everyone is ready to look at this
issue fully.
Hopefully these conversations will motivate more dialog and more
education.
That's not to say people shouldn't play with other closed source
solutions. I'm just not seeing them as the best path for our
community.
Harold
On 2/2/25 10:34 AM, Peggy Holman wrote:
Thank you for your clarifications Harold. I remember now that you
have previously said it is Gmail that is blocking us from receiving
our own messages.
While I also hope we don’t give up on email, since the session I
co-hosted with Thomas Herrmann on during the Peace and High
Performance OS, I am aware that we attract many fewer young people
to the list because they use email less. So I hope we can find a way
to bridge to whatever platform(s) they are using.
To both your comments and Magdalena’s comments, wouldn’t it be
great if there were a distribution mechanism so that people can
choose the platform where they receive OSlist messages?
Peggy
On Feb 1, 2025, at 5:25 PM, Magdalena Valderrama Hurwitz
<magdalenavh@gmail.commailto:magdalenavh@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks for these details, Harold.
Folks, I for one can't use Facebook because they have shut me out of
my own account--something to do with the technology on their end
because I still get notifications! And I don't want to start another
fB account. Slack opens up too many other file and space
possibilities that are overwhelming to a relative digital dinosaur
like me. We use it at work and I'm the Slack athlete there, hahaha.
May I suggest for Juan Luis that the next time he sends out an
email, the moment that one person answers him, he replies within the
thread and copies and pastes his original email in at the bottom?
Then whoever answers next in line the original will always be
available for reference?
On Sat, Feb 1, 2025, 3:39 PM Harold Shinsato <harold@shinsato.commailto:harold@shinsato.com>
wrote:
Hi Peggy,
Actually, the OSList does send emails to the sender.
Blocking the sender from receiving their own email out to
"Listserv" style lists is a "feature" of Google's GMail and some
other email vendors. It was one of the reasons I stopped using
GMail. This issue is not being caused by the OSList software (which
is open source GNU Mailman 3.0, no longer Listserv which was closed
source and much more expensive).
Since the OSList is not blocking senders from getting their own
emails, there's nothing the OSList can do about it either (other
than recommend people find another email system). Juan Luis and I
have had email conversations about this as well as in person
conversations in Istanbul.
Email vendor policies are causing much worse problems. Quite a few
email vendors are blocking OSList emails entirely. We had this issue
with GMail in the past, but we seem to have gotten past it with
GMail at least. Hopefully that issue won't return.
Sadly, I only see this getting worse with email. It's just too easy
for people to falsely accuse the OSList of being spam. But I do
believe email can be a freer communication technology more in the
spirit of Open Space than the more "reliable" vendor solutions like
Facebook, Slack, etc. I know people are talking about this, and I do
see value in 2 Feet experiments. But hopefully we won't give up on
email.
Harold
On 2/1/25 1:49 PM, Peggy Holman wrote:
Juan Luis,
Harold Shinsato can probably give the most definitive answers. I
added him to the cc.
Something about how our listserv works is that we don’t receive
the messages we send. I assume that is why you don’t see your
messages in your OSlist folder on Outlook. I copy mine into my
OSlist folder since I know that to be the case. It probably changed
for you when Harold did some work a few years back to deal with spam
problems.
I’m guessing the messages you received that went to your OSlist
folder were addressed to everyone@oslist.orgmailto:everyone@oslist.org. I notice mine was just
sent to your personal email address.
Warmly,
Peggy
On Jan 31, 2025, at 3:42 PM, isaac a <isaac48@hotmail.commailto:isaac48@hotmail.com> wrote:
Unfortunately I don't really know how it works. Sorry.
Isaac
FROM: juanluiswalker@gmail.commailto:juanluiswalker@gmail.com <juanluiswalker@gmail.commailto:juanluiswalker@gmail.com>
SENT: 31 January 2025 19:23
TO: annacaroline@truthcircles.commailto:annacaroline@truthcircles.com <annacaroline@truthcircles.commailto:annacaroline@truthcircles.com>;
marc@likebreathin.commailto:marc@likebreathin.com <marc@likebreathin.commailto:marc@likebreathin.com>; peggy@peggyholman.commailto:peggy@peggyholman.com
<peggy@peggyholman.commailto:peggy@peggyholman.com>; tgb417@gmail.commailto:tgb417@gmail.com <tgb417@gmail.commailto:tgb417@gmail.com>;
fundaoral@gmail.commailto:fundaoral@gmail.com<fundaoral@gmail.commailto:fundaoral@gmail.com>; julius.tacha@posteo.atmailto:julius.tacha@posteo.at
<julius.tacha@posteo.atmailto:julius.tacha@posteo.at>; isaac48@hotmail.commailto:isaac48@hotmail.com <isaac48@hotmail.commailto:isaac48@hotmail.com>;
magdalenavh@gmail.commailto:magdalenavh@gmail.com <magdalenavh@gmail.commailto:magdalenavh@gmail.com>
SUBJECT: RE: I want to receive feedback
Thank you very much my dear friends for your responses and I'm glad
to know that my messages can be seen in the Oslist.
The doubt that remains with me is why I dont see in my folder of the
Oslist in Outlook the messages that I have sent . I remember that in
the past all the messages that I have sent appears inmediatly in
that folder .
Can you give me some reasons of why this occurs?
Thanks in advance.
With love,
Juan Luis
PS: From the eight persons that here I'm writing directly now, and
that till the moment are the ones had give me answer to my inquiry,
only the one of Anna Caroline I have received in my Oslist folder
and all the others has went directly to my Inbox of my personal
email: juanluiswalker@gmail.commailto:juanluiswalker@gmail.com
[1]
Libre de virus.www.avast.comhttp://virus.www.avast.com [1]
--
Harold Shinsato
harold@shinsato.commailto:harold@shinsato.com
--
Harold Shinsato
harold@shinsato.commailto:harold@shinsato.com
Links:
[1]
OSList mailing list -- everyone@oslist.orgmailto:everyone@oslist.org
To unsubscribe send an email to everyone-leave@oslist.orgmailto:everyone-leave@oslist.org
See the archives here: https://oslist.org/empathy/list/everyone.oslist.org
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To unsubscribe send an email to everyone-leave@oslist.orgmailto:everyone-leave@oslist.org
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To unsubscribe send an email to everyone-leave@oslist.orgmailto:everyone-leave@oslist.org
See the archives here: https://oslist.org/empathy/list/everyone.oslist.org
Skye HIrst, PhD
Just-in-Time Conversations
jitcc.orghttp://jitcc.org
"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Viktor Frankl
"Nature ever flows, stands never still. Motion or change is her mode of existence." Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Human Beings must always be on the watch for the coming of wonder." EB White
I LOVE the mix of thoughts coming in!!!
It stimulates a few from me…
On the law of two feet and the origins of the list…
Michael Pannwitz’ quoted Murli’s early message which I think does a nice job of speaking to the purpose this list serves:
"OSLIST" is a place where the global Open Space community of several hundred facilitators, learners and enthusiasts share materials, ideas, design, experiences, even clients. Sit in as an active listener and questioner or just a quiet learner. People on this electronic discussion list can share ideas and materials with you from their work in over 140 countries and in many languages, cultures and settings…"
To add to the OSlist origin story...Harrison visited Seattle in 1996 and met with a group of us about the idea of starting the Open Space Institute-US. When we were ready to announce its birth, Harrison gave us the use of his mailing list. Murli, whom none of us knew personally, was on that list. When he read the message, he was inspired to start the list. He just did it. Just as Michael Herman did with the openspaceworld https://openspaceworld.org/wp2/ website. And Michael Pannwitz did with the openspaceworldmap https://www.openspaceworldmap.org/. And someone did starting the Facebook group and someone else did starting the LinkedIn group. Everyone operating out of the Law of Two Feet — passion and responsibility.
So if someone is moved to find or create software that bridges platforms, cool! Perhaps that student project you suggest Isaac. (So much for my guessing about age. :-) Or trying a shared # again as Chris mentions. And I’m sure many of us can and will turn outward as Michael Herman reminds us.
No wrong answers. Perhaps we each take away more clarity from the exchange. I know I do. For some, perhaps stimulus that moves them to act. I hope so!!
What have we learned?
To Michael Herman’s question, "what have we learned in the last 40 years (!!) of meeting/working in open space, that might be useful to so many people who are coming into it for the first time?”
One of the biggies for me was how to reconcile investing time in inviting with an often used laissez faire interpretation of whoever comes is the right people.
On invitation and how it plays with whoever comes is the right people.
When considering doing any work, I always begin with purpose, as Cari noted. Side by side, I/we start the conversation about given our purpose, who needs to be involved? That leads to invitation — after all, how does someone know about what you’re doing without putting out the word? Years ago, I think it was Michael Herman who really lifted up the importance of invitation on this list. It is so much how I work now that I don’t recall for sure.
Harrison’s answer was always invite the people who care. I took a cue from the creators of Future Search, Marv Weisbord and Sandra Janoff, to think about who the people who care are. Marv and Sandra use a great acronym. You want the people who ARE IN — with authority, resources, expertise, information, and need. I also bring a demographic lens from the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education’s Fault Lines: race, class, gender/sexual orientation, generation and geography. And I add disability. Not all those dimension apply but it does stimulate a good conversation on what demographics are relevant to the purpose. Sometimes that means inviting people we hadn’t originally considered into honing the purpose so that it speaks to the people we seek to invite.
I find inviting the most time intensive part of preparing for an Open Space. We put a ton of effort into inviting. Having done that work, I relax to engage and learn with whomever comes. And seek to learn from those we hoped to have present who opted not to come.
The gist of all this is that my take on whoever comes is to be mindful about inviting and be at peace with whomever shows up and curious about those who don’t that we hoped would.
Perhaps what all of this comes to are lessons in being present to and curious and compassionate about whatever happens while staying unattached to outcome.
For now, I’ll continue to live in the question about the many ways we do and don’t reach younger people….
On Feb 9, 2025, at 4:29 AM, Thomas Herrmann via OSList everyone@oslist.org wrote:
…and there are other places and spaces for conversations connected to OST, such as
A Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/7189220743
On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/81286/
And many local spaces too.
Still the OSlist has and is THE most juicy place to go/be for me.
So, I guess Harrisons 5th principle, Where ever it happens… applies here too.
Thomas
Från: Skye via OSList <everyone@oslist.org mailto:everyone@oslist.org>
Skickat: den 9 februari 2025 11:57
Till: Michael Herman <michael@michaelherman.com mailto:michael@michaelherman.com>; Chris Corrigan <chris.corrigan@gmail.com mailto:chris.corrigan@gmail.com>
Kopia: withlovebycari@gmail.com mailto:withlovebycari@gmail.com; douglasgermann <douglasgermann@proton.me mailto:douglasgermann@proton.me>; Open Space Olist <everyone@oslist.org mailto:everyone@oslist.org>
Ämne: [OSList] Re: Where are the youth? And the mysterious mechanics of OSlist (Original subject: Fwd: I want to receive feedback)
AMEN and thank you Michael.
On Sun, Feb 9, 2025, at 1:14 AM, Michael Herman via OSList wrote:
harrison used to remind us every now and then to take our wrist watches off before stepping into the circle, lest we unconsciously glance at it while we are telling everyone that "whenever it starts is the right time." we could be similarly careful here at what feels like the edge of "whoever comes is the right people."
years ago i opened a 4-hour, after school space for 35 young people, ages 12-22 in Racine, Wisconsin. a couple weeks later, they ran another for themselves, with 70 kids. a few weeks after that, having generated a bunch of things to do, they opened a third space, but started inviting parents and other helpers with cars, who they saw as necessary to advancing their work. they soon became the largest YMCA Earth Service Corps chapter in the country (one of their emergent themes was environment). They got in the newspaper a number of times and got a skateboard park built in the best lakefront (Lake Michigan) park right near downtown, exactly where business leaders had been trying to keep them out. They went to a national conference and told their story. The conference organizers cancelled a half day of the conference and asked the Racine kids to open the space for the 500+ at the conference. After that, we know some of those folks went home and ran their own OS meetings and initiatives.
Similarly, I opened space for the 2008 Scrum Gathering in Chicago. Three participants rode the train home together and hatched a plan to use open space to end what they'd come to call the "death march," as management was pushing them to finish a year of work in just six months. In short, it worked brilliantly. And then they made it a regular part of the Agile user group learning sessions they run monthly.
no doubt you have your own stories of where people saw what you did and immediately understood enough of it to go off and just do it. this is how it's supposed to be! it's supposed to be transparent, deeply familiar, easy to try and get some good results. it's supposed to be able to spread around the world without a marketing budget and organizing body, without certifications and teachers. not that trainings and listserves are bad... only that they are extra!
ultimately, the best way to open more space is to open more space.
as chris mentioned, we tried the ost hashtag, and it went nowhere. we linked to flickr photos, but now that hashtag and collection is virtually unusable, full of junk. when the oslist started, email was new and social media was non-existent. today, we're awash in all of it... and it's all open space. beautiful and horrible! people in offices are scheduling which days they'll overlap in the office, like the office is just another corner of the room. one of harrison's definitions of os was "when the old thing is finished or collapsing, and the new thing hasn't started yet." by this measure, we're swimming in open space!
so one question for me is "what have we learned in the last 40 years of meeting/working in open space, that might be useful to so many people who are coming into it for the first time?" what have we learned about calling circles and riding waves and inviting organization in the middle of what feels super chaotic? when tibet was crushed under the weight of chinese occupation, tibetan buddhism turned outward, expanded globally in ways it never could have from inside of tibet. if the turmoil of today's workplaces and communities is making it hard to bring people into the oslist we've always had, how do we reimagine our conversations? maybe we shouldn't be bringing people in... how do we go out, and meet these new people, young people, whatever... wherever they are? each of us, wherever we are. how can we join their work, inviting and convening? wherever it happens is the right place, after all.
open space technology was only ever a halfway solution. maybe like a way to arrange the game board. but the real game is transformation. learning. community. spirit. how can we remember to look for, offer and support these big games, beyond the methodology and our own cozy circle? when i see the world churning, i don't think to myself, "i need to go check the oslist." i start thinking about calling old clients, local colleagues, neighbors, community organizations -- looking for places to be useful. i'm glad the list is here, just what it is and as it is. i love that we've all been so marvelously connected, around the world and sometimes across cafe and kitchen tables for so many years. but the game is out there! my brother's first job out of college was selling lift trucks. every morning at 7:30, his boss would storm through the sales guys' workspace yelling, "get out of here! nobody here is going to buy any lift trucks!"
so more than "how do we bring others into the list, or some new platform(s), to sip our koolaid with us..." it seems to me more immediately actionable to acknowledge that we are the ones we have, maybe there's only a few of any of you still reading here now! the right people! <grin> and however many will read this far... "what are the issues and opportunities for you, me, each of us and all of us, to get out more, to share the spirit of os and the oslist, wherever in the world we might be needed?" and if some of us can come back and share some of our stories and learnings from that, whatever happens here and in the world will be the only thing that could have! ...until it's over, or we are, or something.
m
--
Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
312-280-7838 (mobile)
MichaelHerman.com http://michaelherman.com/
OpenSpaceWorld.org http://openspaceworld.org/
On Sat, Feb 8, 2025 at 8:59 PM Chris Corrigan via OSList <everyone@oslist.org mailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
Years ago we started using the hashtag #OpenSpaceTech for social media posts about OST. We could certainly go back to that and perhaps someone more tech wavy than I could build a feed onto the Open Space World website or at least link to uses of that hashtag elsewhere. That website already has a link to all the photos on Flickr with that tag.
I once worked on an intragenerational community project. The community organizer who is running the project used 14 different methods to keep the group together. The group was a mix of youth adults and seniors and they used everything from Snapchat to Facebook to Twitter to email to texts and even sent out information by snail mail. She spent a huge amount of her time trying to knit everybody together across these platforms and she did a great job doing it.
I’ve been fond of saying lately that we’ve never been more connected, and we’ve felt further apart. It is hard to convene people in asynchronous conversations these days in any form.
Chris.
On Feb 8, 2025, at 5:50 PM, Cari via OSList <everyone@oslist.org mailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
Thanks for this clarity Peggy and everyone
I think there needs to simply be a 'what are we seeking' answer that would then give the best direction as to 'where it belongs'.
Yes there are many many options of social media sources that we can rate by effectiveness but also corrosiveness that can narrow things down
BUT to begin what is the purpose of the email list?
To inform - to educate - to connect etc ...
If we have a good understanding of what everyone seeks from this list and connection it would give us a better direction as to where it is best placed
IMHO
my heart walks with yours,
CARI TAYLOR
Author: One Living System, Life’s sacred language and our collective journey.
Voice for Life: Living Systems education
Counsellor and Consultant: health and wellbeing for People, Planet, Place and the padfoot, wings and claws who roam ...
One Living System https://onelivingsystem.cari-taylor.com/?v=2.1
Web: www.cari-taylor.com http://www.cari-taylor.com/
Substack: https://onelivingsystem.substack.com/
Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/cari.
Recognising the elders past present and emerging of the Kaurna people whose unceded country I work, live and play on. Respecting the land of 'so called Australia' as always was always will be First Nations land.
Acknowledging diversity and equity in justice for the LGBTIQ+ community
On Sun, Feb 9, 2025 at 9:22 AM douglasgermann via OSList <everyone@oslist.org mailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
I too cannot use Facebook. From what I see in various places, it seems it is becoming toxic.
:- Doug. Germann
(One of the old ones)
On Saturday, February 8th, 2025 at 1:34 PM, Peggy Holman via OSList <everyone@oslist.org mailto:everyone@oslist.org> wrote:
Hi all,
On January 30, Juan Luis posed a question on why he doesn’t see messages he sends to the OS list and why some replies come just to him and some go to the OSlist. It eventually wandered into a conversation off the list. It also moved into a conversation about who participates on the list. Some of both these themes seemed important to bring back to the list.
I’ve captured highlights of the conversation and, after checking with the conversation participants, the whole message thread below is for any who want the read the full exchange.
I am bringing this conversation back to the list mainly because of a question that surfaced for me:
How do we attract a mix of ages into the conversation that the OSlist currently supports?
By age, I mean primarily chronological age but also experience with Open Space. My perception is that participants who post on OSlist are predominantly older (over 50). As the recent exchange with Isaac modeled, I think our community is most vibrant when a mix of ages are in the conversation. (I don’t actually know how old Isaac is! I’m making an assumption that he is under 50.)
Julius, who is 31 and says he is not typical for his age in his technology use, offered this suggestion:
Let's not expect to attract more people through changing platforms. Let's do what serves us best and trust that with the help of bumblebees and butterflies, things will go a good way? :)
Julius may have the simplest solution. Still, I wonder if it is possible to keep the OSlist AND create a distribution mechanism so that people can choose the platform through which they receive and send OSlist messages?
What are your thoughts?
Appreciatively,
Peggy
P.S. To my fellow off-list conversation partners: If I’ve missed something you think important, please bring it up!!
HIGHLIGHTS from the off-list exchange (bolding from me)
How our email platform works
From Harold
the OSList does send emails to the sender...Blocking the sender from receiving their own email...is a "feature" of Google's GMail and some other email vendors….This issue is not being caused by the OSList software (which is open source GNU Mailman 3.0)… I do believe email can be a freer communication technology more in the spirit of Open Space than the more "reliable" vendor solutions like Facebook, Slack, etc. I know people are talking about this, and I do see value in 2 Feet experiments. But hopefully we won't give up on email.
From Magdalena
I for one can't use Facebook...something to do with the technology on their end…. Slack opens up too many other file and space possibilities that are overwhelming to a relative digital dinosaur like me
From Thomas
...when I get an email from the oslist and click respond, I have to check that it is addressed to the oslist before sending it off...in my email program (Outlook) it is addressed to the person who wrote it not the oslist...So check before sending.
From Harold
….seeing emails from other people not getting posted to the OSList. There are a few possibilities:
Attracting younger people to the list...
From Peggy
...we attract fewer young people to the list because they use email less. So I hope we can find a way to bridge to whatever platform(s) they are using...wouldn’t it be great if there were a distribution mechanism so that people can choose the platform where they receive OSlist messages?
From Harold
I know of no open source solution that could provide email AND some other more controlled delivery system at this point. The closed source solutions are very susceptible to external control that are not in alignment (in my view) with Open Space.
If we do what you suggest at this point, we're giving the control of the content of our platform to one private corporation or another. It may seem convenient, but I do believe there is a very robust dialog emerging around how we can have security and privacy and also freedom of speech. Simple email is not perfect, and it's pretty low tech, but email is still the best tech for this.
As someone working with computers since 1978, what I am seeing is that, email, a foundational basic communication technology, is under assault and it's not being protected by the big technology gate keepers. If more of us users would grow our education, my own sense is that fewer of us would trust Google, Facebook, Microsoft and even Apple and the emerging solutions would gain more adoption. There are new players emerging that are serving those seeing these issues. I can recommend ProtonMail and do my best to defend continuing with the Open Source GNU Mail platform, but not everyone is ready to look at this issue fully.
Hopefully these conversations will motivate more dialog and more education.
That's not to say people shouldn't play with other closed source solutions. I'm just not seeing them as the best path for our community.
From Julius (note: I encourage reading all of Julius’ message below (in bold))
...I am 31 and probably part of the generation, the OSList members would consider "young”…
I believe finding platforms that suit all generations is not feasible and it makes more sense to leave it to the greater intelligence to enable community and knowledge transfer despite of all the diversification.
Let's not expect to attract more people through changing platforms. Let's do what serves us best and trust that with the help of bumblebees and butterflies, things will go a good way? :)
THE ORIGINAL EXCHANGE (I think I caught all of the messages…)
On Feb 6, 2025, at 4:49 PM, Harold Shinsato <harold@shinsato.com mailto:harold@shinsato.com> wrote:
Hi Juan Luis,
My apology for the late reply.
It is important to get to the source cause. No need to apologize. But I do need to see the specific case. Only then I can see what is happening and have a chance at addressing the issue.
I do seem to have missed the issue that you made clear in your last note. I apologize for missing that you are seeing emails from other people not getting posted to the OSList. There are a few possibilities:
Something else could also be going on. I need someone to forward me the specific email that did not go through (forwarded as an attachment so I can see the email headers.)
Harold
On Feb 5, 2025, at 11:58 PM, Thomas Herrmann <thomas@openspaceconsulting.com mailto:thomas@openspaceconsulting.com> wrote:
Yes I recognize this topic and as I understand it, when I get an email from the oslist and click respond, I have to check that it is addressed to the oslist before sending it off. It happens in my email program (Outlook) that it is addressed to the person who wrote it and not the oslist. Then of course it does not go to the oslist.
So check before sending is my advice. My non-techie understanding is that it may have to do with our emailprogram making choices 😊
Cheers
Thomas
On 2/5/25 4:05 PM, juanluiswalker@gmail.com mailto:juanluiswalker@gmail.com wrote:
Dear Harold,
Product of this exchange, I´m very happy to know that my messages are received effectively in the OSlist, but my doubt know is why some persons respond to that but it doesn't appears in the OSlist and only goes to my Inbox of my Gmail?
Sorry about my insistence,
Juan Luis
Begin forwarded message:
From: Peggy Holman <peggy@peggyholman.com mailto:peggy@peggyholman.com>
Subject: Re: I want to receive feedback
Date: February 2, 2025 at 10:31:32 AM PST
To: Julius Tacha <julius.tacha@posteo.at mailto:julius.tacha@posteo.at>
Cc: Harold Shinsato <harold@shinsato.com mailto:harold@shinsato.com>, Magdalena Valderrama Hurwitz <magdalenavh@gmail.com mailto:magdalenavh@gmail.com>,juanluiswalker@gmail.com mailto:juanluiswalker@gmail.com, Anna Caroline Türk <annacaroline@truthcircles.com mailto:annacaroline@truthcircles.com>, marc@likebreathin.com mailto:marc@likebreathin.com,tgb417@gmail.com mailto:tgb417@gmail.com, Funda Oral <fundaoral@gmail.com mailto:fundaoral@gmail.com>, isaac a <isaac48@hotmail.com mailto:isaac48@hotmail.com>
Thank you for speaking up Julius. I value hearing your perspective. And always appreciate what Harold brings to the conversation.
I’m sorry this exchange isn’t happening on the OSlist. I’d like to move it there by forwarding this message thread with an introduction that summarizes the challenges Harold raises, Julius’ perspective on younger people (for me, that is under age 50), and the dilemma of losing people who don’t use email.
Does anyone have an issue with my doing that?
Appreciatively,
Peggy
On Feb 2, 2025, at 10:28 AM, Julius Tacha <julius.tacha@posteo.at mailto:julius.tacha@posteo.at> wrote:
I forgot Harold in my reply. Here again for all including Harold.
Also thank you for your last contribution. I whole heartedly agree. :)
--- my original message ---
Dear Juan Luis, dear all,
concerning your P.S.:
Yes, in my case this was because I just replied to you and not the whole list. I guess it was the same with the others, since I didn't receive theirs. Anna Caroline's I received, as it was sent to the list. So everything working as intended in that regard, I suppose.
With regard to your question:
Do you use a mail client on a desktop computer, an app on your smartphone or the webmail solution in a browser?
Maybe having a locally stored email program like Thunderbird would solve the problem? I would assume it can save your outgoing emails in a "Sent" folder independently on whether the email providers show it in your webmail.
On platforms in general and Peggy's hypothesis:
I don't know whether it is the technology that is the reason for few(er) young people ending up in the folds of the Open Space Facilitation community.
I don't know who you are referring to when you say "young". I am 31 and probably part of the generation, the OSList members would consider "young". But then technoligy-vise I don't behave "young". I'm not on Facebook. Neither on Whatsapp, Instagram, or TikTok. The latter don't enable more in-depth exchange anyway. So I am happy to miss out and trust, that the relevant information from my peers still finds me.
For activism and newsletters Telegram and Signal are the platforms where a lot of self-organization is happening. Less than on Whatsapp I guess, but still a critical mass of people. You could say that a meetibg of generations is happening there, but also it is not furthering focus and presence so much.
However:
I do not consider myself member of the young generation. The platforms young people use, change every few years and using your own kind of platform - the one your parent's generation won't be on - might be just a deliberate choice. I believe finding platforms that suit all generations is not feasible and it makes more sense to leave it to the greater intelligence to enable community and knowledge transfer despite of all the diversification.
So what I am trying to say is:
Let's not expect to attract more people through changing platforms. Let's do what serves us best and trust that with the help of bumblebees and butterflies, things will go a good way? :)
Okay, sorry for rambling.
Wish you all a sweet evening. :)
[1]
https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient
[2] https://shinsato.com/
[3] https://shinsato.com https://shinsato.com/
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