Summary In this post I will discuss ONLY some linguistic questions about the use of the word "open" to qualify another name, be it "forum" or "space" or... Will try to prove that the fact that someone uses the word "open" doesn't mean that the space is necessarily opened, and sometimes it is even more closed that it was before the word open was used. I don't want to criticize anything or anybody - only to make something clear in my mind. This post is uninteresting and you may delete it. If you decide to read it, it will be at your own risk ;-)
Intro The recent dialog on "Open Forum" and specially the URL that Jeff sent us, and a previous observation from Harrison asking if when the WSF used the expression "Open Space" they were referring to OST or not were at the basis of this post. But some other uses of the word "open" will be addressed. What is an open forum? ---------------------- To understand this please read the page that Jeff referred to, specially under "Forum". http://www.democracyinnovations.org/openforums.html> As it is correctly stated a "forum" (in the Greek sense of "Agora") is open (and democratic) by definition. It may be a space of dialog or a space of discussion, but is open. When I read the "rules" that are superimposed to a forum in the meeting method referred as "Open Forum" -and without commenting on the interest of the method that is NOT my point - what I found interesting is that if I should give a name to the method I would never have called it "Open Forum", as a forum is always open and this one is less open that the Greek sense. So I would call it something like "Structured Forum" or similar. Hence, my first point: if someone uses the word "open" to qualify "something", that "something" is not necessarily more open than it was before. In this particular case it is more structured and than less open than the Greek sense of "forum". Probably very useful as it has been pointed. But IMHO has the wrong name. "Open Space" is not necessarily OST If someone claims that he is "opening the space" or uses "open space" that doesn't mean necessarily that the space is open and even less that OST is being used. The use of "Open Space" by the WSF was not referring to OST but to a general method of holding meetings with more participation and less "paper presentations". Indeed they intended to be more close to a "forum" (Greek sense) then the traditional conventions or Congresses. Curiously enough in WSF the "F" means "forum" ;-) "OST" is not necessarily OST That is a bit more complex. But in our days OST begins to be known out of the OST practitioner's community. This is good but has also some negative consequences. And the expression "Open Space" and even in some cases "OPEN SPACE TECHNOLOGY" are used by some people that know nothing about it except the name - that sound very coll (and open). Sometime ago I heard about a meeting ("CP week", held in the USA) where they claimed that OST was used only because they seated in a circle and asked participants to add issues to a large majority of "issues" that were prepared in advance and presented by the organizers themselves. See what I mean? With the name OST in fact all had been created before the event. Probably even the conclusions... And now what? Now, nothing! I don't believe in certifications, and I am afraid that this is a necessary price for (Harrison's) fame... It is only interesting for us to be aware of what is happening. More Open Spaces All that reminded me of some searches I made in the Internet when I first discovered "Open Space". I was using a search engine then in use, and made searches for "Open Space" in English and for translations into the Latin languages. The majority of the results informed me of some "Open Space" where I could buy something... Since then I am very careful any time I see that some space is open... Many "Open Spaces" are indeed closed ones. What happens with the word "open" is probably also true of many other words. What do you think when someone says to you that he is "honestly speaking"? Are you still with me? If so, bye, bye - as this is The END! Have a nice weak end Artur __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/careermakeover * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist