Hi Bhav and everyone!

I hope you are doing great, and thank you for posting the article by Tim
O'Reilly.  I pasted in the relevant quote about the scientist Humboldt who
created a conversational conference.

Given the information available in the article, I can't come to the same
conclusion of the author, that Humboldt's event format was the same as open
space.  I think more info is needed to hear about whether people could
propose topics, whether they could choose sessions, and whether they could
move between sessions.  From the information available, it might be that
Humboldt chose all the topics and assigned people to different discussions.

Here is the relevant part of the article:

> "Humboldt was revolutionizing the sciences. In September 1828 he invited
> hundreds of scientists from across Germany and Europe to attend a
> conference in Berlin. Unlike previous such meetings at which scientists had
> endlessly presented papers about their own work, Humboldt put together a
> very different programme. Rather than being talked at, he wanted the
> scientists to talk with each other. There were convivial meals and social
> outings such as concerts and excursions to the royal menagerie on the
> Pfaueninsel in Potsdam. Meetings were held among botanical, zoological and
> fossil collections as well as at the university and the botanical garden.
> Humboldt encouraged scientists to gather in small groups and across
> disciplines. He connected the visiting scientists on a more personal level,
> ensuring that they forged friendships that would foster close networks. He
> envisaged an interdisciplinary brotherhood of scientists who would exchange
> and share knowledge. ‘Without a diversity of opinion, the discovery of
> truth is impossible,’ he reminded them in his opening speech."


It would be interesting to know more.
Lucas Cioffi

On Wed, Jun 28, 2023 at 1:16 AM Bhavesh Patel via OSList <
[email protected]> wrote:

> https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/true-inventor-unconference-tim-o-reilly/
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