Dr Yunus of Grameen and microcredit and Nobel peace 2006 is setting cities and citiens around the world an interesting challenge. If he is passing through your city would you be able to find 1000 people who all wanted to collaborate with each other as well as him in empowering a good global world instead of the bad one currently compoundingSynonyms for good are win-win-win, sustainable, empowering every community up, one where hi-trust people transparently win over low-trustSo 2 questions:if Yunus was passing through Africa cities, which do you think would produce the most collaborative impactsif you are a twin national

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2516276605 - eg living in a rich city but with family roots back in Africa - how ready is your big rich city to represent Africa interests when Yunus hosts his Forum 1000 there.My friends are particularly working on London and New York as 2 test cities; partly because a London University student spent the summer interning in Dhaka on this project. One intercity collaboration idea is collaboration cafe - see those we have already hosted and tell us at info@worldcitizen.tv if you want to replay one in your city or virtually http://worldcitizen.tv/_wsn/page4.html

Another collaboration idea is can we produce a good global idea to heroes, their projects and networks for humanity. Why do people all over the world know the top 10 sporstmen for 50 different sports but not top 10s for different vital issues of human sustainability? http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5475184122

http://worldcitizen.tv/_wsn/page2.html

But the best truth about collaboration knowledge cities http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%2Bknowledge+%2Bcollaboration+%2Bcity&btnG=Google+Search in the 5 years that I have been searching the peoples and communities that weave them is that if any city does a great job in turning round a beter Global with Yunus we can all learn from what it did and work out how to invite the 1000 most relevant citizens when Yunus passes your way. http://grameen.tv/

In early 2007 Londoners will have published a worldwide travel guide brochure on CrisisLearning

This will be followed by a sister brochure on CrisisClimate in time for handing out at the photosynthesis building on the South Bank opening on the national theatre forecourt in March, and later in the year the maps of CrisisEconomics accompanying a book on the maths of trust-flow, transparency and sustainability wherever leaders wish to ensure that a whole organisation systems' productivities and demands is fully valuing these compound drivers of success

For 23 years now our senior economist has believed that only photosynthesis practice networks can save us from climate crisis - http://futurehistorian.tv so it is good news that London has the first photosynthesis open space in the world

meanwhile founder of Open Space Harrison Owen has contributed a piece to our Crisis Learning guide on how every child can benefit from open space being a school practice as well as curricula vitae

If you want a free copy of either Crisis guide when it comes out, email info@worldcitizen.tv

If you have a new years wish that you want to open space with peoples of the world, we'd love to hear about that so that we can work out some space for it in a future Crisis travel brochure or at one of the affiliate family of http://worldcitizen.tv

chris macrae

Why does OSofLondon see its spirit and virtual village as flowing out of Euston Square?

On one side of this square is the Quakers Friends House:
-the largest affordable hall (and so most used by Londoners) for open space, as well as one of the home of simpol cafes that have helped make London number 1 as knowledge collaboration city and the algaeworld network's early meetings due to be the main peoples carnival for clean energy round britain summer of 2006
-Quakers are the spiritual network whose community circles of enlightenment began centuries ago; their servas international network is one of the great cross-cultural home spaces for peoples
-where over 1000 people have connected through Be The Change (the London hub of the Gandhi change practice network) first open spaced by our dear friend Colin who lost his life in the tube of7/7 that the bomber boarded at Euston Station

village 3 osofLondon as the way people activate community has strong connections with futureoflondon (whose hub clubofvillage visualises about a mile south of Euston at BBC's Aldwich headquarters shared with the Embassy of India) - the way people broadcast and world serve. Interestingly for peopleeconomics (and all who want to see media exponentials grow the value of people), India's DD is the second largest public broadcaster after the BBC , and both media's cooperation would be a perfect marriage to connect The Economist's 1984 vision of project30000 and 2 million global villages of the communal transparency, context and truth-testing that Gandhi and Einstein would be proud of

Open Space Technology , now over a quarter of century and 50000 stagings in 99 countries young, was invented by Harrison Owen of Potomac MD in the vicinity of Washington DC, when coordinating one of the most innovative networks ever born - Organisational Transformation facilitators and systemisers

As a transparency mapmaker of networks as well as open space, I take the wider (and deeper!) definition of space, media and mediation : anywhere that people confronted by one challenging invitation come to dialogue through time and to take each other through the conflict barrier out to the other side where they can all collaborate openly around the greatest innovation purpose that links them. I love future history storytelling and anniversaries of humanity's movements including mathematical and future history mapmaking ones my family happens to have played the smallest parts in connecting for about 80 years now. 2006 sees the

30th birthday of our Entrepreneurial Revolutions, launched at The Economist and the village of St James

10th Birthday of chartering culture or brand or any gravitational purpose that people systemically agree to identify productive and demanding relationships around

The halfway point in our 1985 timeline to 2025,when we need to network around 30000 projects sustaining global vilages or expect after 2010 that failure to change economics (of so very 20th century pre-networked matters such as transactions and extyernalities) means globalisation spins viciously out of control not just of women and men, but nations and all the separate organisations that have divided secctor's compound exponentials

BACK TO SPACE
so as well as open space of Harrison, we have cafes, and societal hubs -eg 1; electronically we have blogwalks (eg 1) and jams (3 day attemps from every coordinate in the world to send a postcard one critical problem such as why do slums in cities still get worse) and other as well as change networks like mocrofinace which will last as long as any other type opf finace but always be concerned with the deepest local context around which all value spins transparently. The 21st Century's networks live in real and virtual modes- none more so than Club of City and the 2 million global club of villages 1 2 we will need in the systemic views of such future luminaries as Einstein, Gandhi, Von Neumann, and Schumacher if the 21st Century is not only to be the most wonderful expression of how humanity can serfve each other and invest in future generations, but also sustain life. Networks have always been one of those convergent spaces where everything is newly up for grabs including whether our species gerts to be 22 centuries old.

Largely speaking this weblog calendarises meetings, innovation or conflict gravities, and modes of meeting that give people a chnace as 6 billion beings to colaborate in sustaining the future. This is our second version, the first being a victim of an infamous Google meltdown that impacted 100 of our collaboration weblogs. 2005's entries retrieve in albeit it messy form what we could.

I have a credo you haven't lived if you haven't experienced open space once. It would be interesting to know:
what your haven't lived credo is

and if we believe it, why we don't advocate that all etacgers experience it and enable children to experience it at the first appropriate time

here's more on where open space can go to; originally the methoid focused on the world's biggest conflict issues, one space at a time; for that it needs the epople who come to give up 3 days uninterrupted time in celebrating listening poiwer of and with each other

I believe (know from very rehersal so far ) that a 10 year old can be intoruduced to a 1-day open space and from that moment on lunch hours, after-school activities need never be the same again

here's a bit more on where this evolution can go to; it needs editing as its part of a live conversation May 2006

Lunch for learning.
At a corporation like google or a school or children and family-caring community near you...


I am convinced -from one hour collaboration cafe formats we have trialled - this is a huge opportunity but only if we move up a level from open space and across to other structures

You (the 1500+ alumni of open space at OSlieste-serve) know more than me but 3 sub-system interfaces that fascinate me about open space are :
the invitation phase- will the people who come be the most passionate people about one specific context resolution?

the open space itself, which doesnt rush to answers nor to individual ownership since the innovation values are in the interaction web of flows

the interface after the open phase back to projects in the ordinary world's environments
hold those 3 interfaces and think of people in an organsiational structure:

they have 2 more ways to space and network; that inside the organsiation , and that they care about as bumping into social or communal needs outside

now suppose any person who wishes to is empowered by an organisation to nominate an issue they care passionately about exploring that is in some way related to work but potentially very laterally; will thye whole of the organisation network that person's inviation to a lunch circle in a way that the 10 people who mst passionately want to explore that issue turn uo at the same circle

where I have used the word organisation, it could be any association or network you belong to (most exciting of all are yout hubs becasue these chnage schooling forever and essentially multiply a network of montesorri type learning and co-mentoring circles until a teacher is liberated from examination books)

but the organisational structure is: do leaders or whomever's budget of resources and rulemaking open up the cultural roghts of the structure so that everyone is encouarged to buy into zeroising degrees of separation ar0und lunchtime invitation circles; there are for example half-way check points; the leader's pa could review topics before giving them the zero degree of separation approval to be an invitation post that goes to everyone
chris macrae wcbn007@easynet.co.uk
http://ninenow.blogspot.com/1999_12_01_ninenow_archive.html
http://collaborationcafe.blogspot.com

ps anyone around here know Bill Drayton of www.ashoka.org and www.youthventure.org - I have an odd feeling that the 2 most revolutionary people for humanity's common sense within 15 miles of the white house have been netowrking for 30 years without connecting with each other? Love to be wrong of course!

---

More references to open space 1 2

Below, a story I heard today in the first Mayday lectures organsied by Sir John Whitmore for more than 20 years. The stories and the birth of the London branching of BeTheChange networks sounded so inspiring then. I later learnt That:
-great stories are not enough to enable all a network's participants to make the most of each other's connections with future change
-that the 2004 annual meeting of Global Reconciliation Network in Delhi was for me a much more permanetly moving network event
-that I would soon lose my younger but greatest networking mentor in London, who also open spaced the 3rd day of London's BeTheChange 2004 (see footnote)

I guess Abiola and Lynne Twist remain the most remarkable positive memories of that 3 day event.
Abiola Stories : including the lady with 2 mothers
Support a Women of the Commonwealth Network and require that the UN time share with such women leaders so that women's view of the world's local priorities has as much influence as men'sIn this thread you may want to debate:could the Independence of Africa's most richly resourced country have spun a different way, and if so what learnings can we map for other countries and critical periods in a nation's re-birth?how at the time of Hafsat Abiola's deepest adversity she united the wisdom flowing through the family trees of one of Nigeria's most love-the-people families (the Abiolas) and one of America's (the Twists)how much generations of the Abiola family gave and are giving to Nigeria, women's networks across the world - how are ( 1,,2,,3,,4) or might other networks that love people of every diversity collaborate with KIND?
# posted by macrae.nets @ 1:58 AM

---

As a tribute to open spacer Colin Morley who died in London's underground bombings of 7/7/2005, here are the main chapter links at his weblog empowermentillustrated

what?
What's empowerment? Academics Be the Change Brands Community Building Creativity Cynics and Critics Dreams and visions Enlightenment Evolution Experts Fun Gurus Heros and heroines Leadership Links and resources My personal opinions News comment Open Space Practice of empowerment Service Profit Chain Sustainability Theory of empowerment Tools Types of empowerment
when?
April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003
Why?
Open Space Time to think Self Directed Work Teams Spiral Dynamics Community Building Ken Wilber Facilitation Participatory Appraisal Commander's Intent Process Work Andrew Cohen The Luck Project Holotropic Breathwork Motivational Quote Of The Day Types of Empowerment
why? not!
Bogus Empowerment Arguments against empowerment The end of empowerment Unions against empowerment Dilbert The Office
how?
Blanchard, Carlos & Randolph Boje and Rosile Conger and Kanugo W Edwards Deming Mary Parker Follett Gershon and Straub Dr E Goldratt Kimball Fisher Eric Trist

I spent much of Easter 2006 reading up on a correspondence course of Gandhi coordinated jointly out of USA and the University Mahatma founded in Ahmedabad in 1920

It turns out if my readers memory serves me correct that Gandhi was in London at 3 different time

he qualified to be a barrister at the Bar in London over 3 years in the 1880s/1890s

much of his legal career (which also eeolved into his first social/peacemaking revolituion) was spent in Natal S. Africa approximate later 1890s to 1920- as a consequence, every year or two he was on a boat between S Africa and India; on one occasion the voyage include a stop off in England; his boat landed the day after world war 1 was announced; typically he stayed for several weeks based in S. England and London

The third and last time Gandhi was seen in London was in a 1931 Roundtable conference on eductation convened at the Friends House! This last provides me renewed reason to google links between gandhi and London ; where I fiond relevant ones I will note them in posts below

here's one extract: Kingsley Hall East London is where Gandhi stayed in 1931 and today part of this place is the UK Gandhi Foundation; among other events they have been running an annual talk on Gandhi; these are soem of the speakers over recent years
Annual Lecturers 1985-2003 1985 ­ Prof Johann Galtung, Founder, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo. "Gandhi Today" 1986 ­ Jonathon Porritt, Director, Friends of the Earth. "Gandhi and the Green Movement" 1987 ­ Martin Ennals, Secretary General, Amnesty International. "The International Concept of Human Rights" 1988 ­ Prof Paul Blau, Austrian Green Party. "The Beginning of an Epoch: Time for the Great Peace Treaty" 1990 David (Lord) Ennals, Chair of the Gandhi Foundation, former Cabinet Minister. "Nonviolence in International Relations" 1991 ­ Dr LM Singhvi, Indian High Commissioner. "Gandhi Today" 1993 The Dalai Lama (Nobel Peace Prize 1984). "Compassion: ­ The Basis of Nonviolence" 1996 ­ Rev Donald (Lord) Soper. "Total Repudiation of Mass Violence the Only Way to Peace" 1997 ­ Prof Madhu Dandavate, Delhi. "Gandhi's Human Touch" 1998 ­ Mairead Maguire, Peace People, Northern Ireland (Nobel Peace Prize 1976). "Building a Culture of Nonviolence" 1999 ­ Bruce Kent, former Chair CND, former President, International Peace Bureau. "Time to Abolish War" 2000 Prof Adam Curle, Founder, Department of Peace Studies, Bradford University. "Mahatma Gandhi: the Master of Truth" 2001 ­ Dr Scilla Elworthy, Founder, the Oxford Research Group. "Gandhi's Legacy: the Vibrancy of Nonviolent Conflict Resolution in the 21st Century" 2002 John Hume MP & MEP (joint Nobel Peace Prize 1998). "An Eye for an Eye" 2003 Simon Hughes MP, Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London."India and Gandhi: Their Legacy to London"

Breaking Views from ClubofLondon current #1 in collaboration knowledge city bookmarks (votes over 40 million)

This week saw world water day come and go with less than a ripple. Did Londoners know how they could have contributed more news on this around the world? no matter

Next week is arguably the biggest in the calendar for gifts to the world Londoners as number 1 collaboration knowledge city can start up, and make the next 6 years marathon of make poverty history connect all around the world

With Al Gore visiting the twin cities of London and Oxford, we cannot imagine a better time to Launch the Social Entrepreneur Olympics. The game is to have got 30 gravity pursuits of social entrepreneur world champions into the public consciousness by 2012 as much as the top 30 sports.

All we need is love and courage to cheerlead cross-cultural creativity's waves:

The Livingstone has got us off to a great start; he has declared there will be no sporting Olympics in London in 2012 unless they are carbon free - turn up the heat on every politician since only photosynthesis innovations can produce clean energy of that sustainability magnitude. Make sure all those who host Al Gore events debrief him as the clock to 2012 counts down

The lessons to be learnt from Make Poverty History from pop stars down can be an epiphany if University of Stars and the BBC turn their minds to the greater transparencies (eg end all country corruptions) needed if Make Poverty History is to be a reality network not just an image-making one

So that's 28 more gravity pursuits we need to celebrate around social entrepreneurs with as much gusto as the 20th Century hailed sporting stars

We are reminded of one Harrison Owen story I should tell because open spacing education is a social entrepreneur pursuit every family can stand up for whereas we cannot all help on the ground with projects in Africa or in the roofs that algae use to convert the sunshine into cleansing energy banks.

He was studying to be a priest around the Washington Dc area. It was a time when Martin Luther King was having a dream. Harrison can't recall quite how it happened but he was standing in a civil rights field in a crowd of African Americans - one tall lanky white man. The police were beginning to charge on the crowd and Harrison was feeling quite scared. That is until a 7 year old black girl came up to him - and said Mister will you hold my hand

Since that day, Harrison gave up the priesthood to the chagrin of most of his family. And is one of the handfuls of people who most interconnects conflict resolution facilitators around the world. Their networks criss-cross all religions that believe in golden rules of reciprocity such as so unto another what you want done unto you. They also connect mathematically - if Einstein is correct here at http://clubofdc.blogspot.com - to Gandhi as the greatest inventor of peaceful social entrepreneurial revolution that 144 years of The Economist's coverage of this most productive of all professions.

If some of this post makes sense to you, why not re-edit the parts you like and send it to the board of Governors of the BBC, and should you wish Tony Blair or another politician well with their legacy why not copy them in to. We the British people, not any of our political representatives own the BBC. We have invested way over 50 billion pounds in this corporation. On a personal note to all scots- may I ask whether you feel the inventor of television would feel proud of a television where every big debate is framed one dimensionally around short-term left and right rivals or whomever is looking fore a job with big business if the party does not turn out Trumps for their apprenticeship to network power.

It is high noon for the BBC with its 10 year licence determined by and for the people in the year of 2o06. Please could our world service be one of British Character we can feel both pride and humility in searching for. Please free your journalists for humanity to take a fearless lead in realising this open source script from 1984 , so that trust across peoples everywhere begins to flow through every documentary inquiry that has anything to do with world peace or nightly newscast on poverty's challenges through 2012 - and through these communications help the British to get to know 30 gravity pursuits of Social Entrepreneurs with as much joy and attention as the 30 sports it spend most public licence fees on. Hey when Brits helped to invent most of these sports we surely never intended they would take over from greater British realities of world service, through believing in CommonWealth principles and our Queen's higher order right to ask us as she did in her end of 2005 broadcast to unite in preventing globalisation from turning humanity on itself.

For the same of deeper democracy blossoming and connecting every coordinate on earth, you can also play a jigsaw mapping game aimed at sustaining 2 million global villages. Here's part of my family's tree which may open up some useful connections- what connections could your family tree or that of your peer networks open source. If you can make a "peer or family tree" picture why don't we play the mixed networking games of swap and snap. If we are going to turn around globalisation’s exponentials sustainably in time, we are all going to have to work with whatever grassroots community contexts up we can help each other navigate. No lead is too small as long as it is one you intend to gravitate transparently around as part of you lifelong learning mission. We need to help change children's education now so that the core human rights of freedom and happiness have a chance to breathe nature's clean waters, airs and energies everyone human beings sing her praises. Let's all turn up the courage through every family in the land and into wherever co-mentoring networks in internet space may take A B C D E F you

** Creative Forum OpenSpace event @ The Square social centre, 21-22 Russell Square, London WC1, 19th March, 2pm - 12am **

Part of United Diversity's 'Another World is Blossoming' festival
http://wiki.uniteddiversity.com/AnotherWorldIsBlossoming

You are invited to attend and participate in a new Creative Forum event planned for Sunday 19th March 2006, Russell Square, London.

The event will be an Open Space, self-organised conference, for networking, discussing, and planning for all of our projects. Open Space is organised through facilitators by everyone attending, and because it is about the freedom to act and move around, it is refered to as a 'marketplace of inquiry'.

The event will feature a debate done in a Cogers-style (http://www.cogers.org ) on the state of the world now and the challenges that face us, introducing alternative technologies and diverse business models. The Cogers-style debate follows a no-voting, no-affiliations, 5 minutes per participant model, as way to negate the difficulties of networking and the meeting of minds.

There will be the opportunity to work towards a more public Creative Forum event a few weeks later for expanding and actively promoting the projects.

Creative Forums are a gathering of capable and knowledgable people to pool our resources and create solutions. A creative, environmental, grass-roots, forward thinking atmosphere. Come to share your projects and to learn from others.

Current participants:
Solaroof -Play the algae worldwide treasure hunt game for energy that cleans as its consumed
EcoAction Sustainable communities Forum
The Conscious Fashion Week
PeaceNotWar collective
A World to Win
Caracas Trollparty

Networking and Creating Friendships
Economic Change Discussions
Practical Activism
Positive Change

We ask for a non-compulsory donation to support our related projects.

To get involved and suggest a session:
info@creativeforum.org

Thanks and be great to see you and hear your ideas on the 19th of March!

The Creative Forum

http://www.creativeforum.org
http://wiki.uniteddiversity.com

creative visions of
another world: harmony;
inclusivity; participation;
empowerment;
authentic communication

The Creative Forum exists as a space for bringing together different and diverse groups and individuals to meet and share and network alternatives to the conventional way of thinking with regards to global political ecological and ethical relationships.

Resolutions of Invitations and Open Space Races


Global Charters- Human Story Update in Brief

Ever since 1984 Entrepreneurs (Revolutionary, Social, Intra, Web or Sustainability) and opne Death of Distance Future History debating networks have known that one generation of mankind 1984-2024 will be hit by 7 interconnecting waves: each capable of sustaining or destabilising our children's generations for ever

It doesnt matter if you believe in 7 wonders - as long as you see and connect with people mapping more than 2 ; understand that they are interconnecting and each is systemic (can only compound expoential growth or destriction over time and through the 2 million global villages we 6 billion beings spend our lifetimes and genenerate the next by inhabiting or network around)

wave 1 might be called collaborating with sunshine's clean energy, clean water, clean oxygen, and healthy nature - for its most courageous storylines join in at this collaborative treasure map http://www.frappr.com/algaeworld

wave 2 might be called children's learning potentials and cross-cultural confidences and acccess to lifelong pursuits worthy of developing and not communally destructing

wave 3 might be called ridding apartheids and structural underclasses so that no baby girl or boy is born into and chained around extreme poverty's disease and compound loss of life's energy to make a loving difference
....

wave 7 might be called changing economics, valuation, governance to love courageous people's relationships and trust-flows not to quarterise them -wave 7 was always going to be the hardest conversion of all - eg Augustine's conversion?

We are redeveloping our scripts of each wave at http://globalcharters.blogspot.com - if you have got a script for open use, or a wave of concern, or a treasure map to interconnect, please come along so we colaboration in the generation that collectively decided the fate of our species

We'll also collate economic scripts at the bottom section of this blog

It occurred to me that there are many courageous/spirited parallels between the open space intent to enable people to all pass beyond a conflict barrier and economists of the preneurial school who enable society to take back assets or laws that are blocking the people's greater productivities or freedoms. Here's a briefing of 200 years of what preneurs strive to do. I welcome comments on any highlights I may have omitted or the chance to publish any one-page scripts on your preneurial missions as part of 2006 being the 30th birthday celebrations of publication of my father's survey of Entrepreneurial Revolution in The Economist.
chris macrae wcbn007@easynet.co.uk


Hi open space racers

My father and I have been working for 30 years on language as the great integration crisis of leadership as well as system theorists. Every professor needs a different term to copyright their fame and alumni class and journal (sub-discipline, sub-professional business case or startegic power)- we need to open up such intellectual chaining all over the world's web

My father's beginning in this was to publish Entrepreneurial Revolution in The Economist in 1976. Odd collaborators included Romano Prodi who hosted an Italian roundtable in venice where all Italy's great leaders of the day sung the chorus of 10 green bottles (administrative barriers Entrepreneurs need to open space through). If you think about it now whether people claim leadership or facilitation gravity to unleash wealth or societal goods, they are usually happy to call themselves either entrepreneur (if business audiences are listening) or social preneur - see eg this fantastic meeting in Oxford next month http://clubofoxford.blogspot.com

To celebrate our 30th birthday of ER, which is actually close on the 200th birthday of the founder of The Economnist (probably the world's first social preneur as his only editorial goals were to repeal corn laws and end capital punishment - both Victorian England's remaining slave chains) , we invite you:
to translate what every your system language is so that it connects with preneurs as a trojan horse for changing global economics
and to choose a place name clubof which we can weblog a debate of how your systemic method helps cross-culturally interrate any type of preneur (ideally 2 million club of global villages are needed!)

Above I have put one slide up which shows 200 years of preneurial language revolutions and since we are also mathematicians, we will need to slay the monopoly of tangible accounting which assigns 0 value to goodwill as a system flow and compounds maximum conflicts by separation every quarter. Knowing that's the fina system barrier is the only way that any system's theory can interface with changing leadership atop the wordl's biggest organsaitions be they corporate of government. As well as 30 years of ER scripts we have 22 years of death of distance scripts since tracking what webs will do has been my whole career and in 1984 I teamed up with my dad and a sci-fi writer to write a book on how 1984-2024 would challenge humanity to its wits end because becoming interconnected in obe generation was always going to be the biggest revolution our species had encountered ; and our species copes with revolutions in ways that spin either very good compound outcomes or in this case ones that will mean no 22nd century. So given this is just a language problem of eladership, why not open source the preneur word unless you can sugest one that can flow through more corridors of power without them knowing what confusion has open spaced

I know swapping the language you believe in most is diffciult. happy to try to help with any 1:1 or many:1 Q&A

chris macrae wcbn007@easynet.co.uk
http://entrepreneurialrevolution.blogspot.com/
http://openspaceraces.blogspot.com/
http://clubofbethesda.blogspot.com/
http://ecosaintjames.blogspot.com/
http://project30000.blogspot.com/

Inviting the next people's revolution peacefully

Some would say that global invitation, as a meta-process of open space, is the greatest challenge of all. Timing of the invitation is critical if all the right people are to come and the tipping point (of Harrison's 3 C's Change, Conflict and Confusion) is nigh so that its safe to celebrate innovation to everyone's hearts' contents. In turn this means that there is a need for future historians and open space facilitators to connect their views. This post is made in that spirit

Future Shock news (Feb06) from Club of Bethesda: A funny thing happened 31 Jan 2006. There was George Bush, doing his annual state of the Union speech, preaching conversion: we will make ethanol competively prices as gasoline within 5 years; America needs to wean itself off addiction to the petroleum economy

where did this come from ; apparently 20 leaders were urgently requested last fall to do a report : which they called Rising above the Gathering Storm

Its conclusions launch 2 space races: adopt clean energy and get used to the internet beginning with making learning science as sexy among the young as sports. Two of its co-authors were interviewed 1 Feb 2006 on Public Sector tv.

and they mentioned 5 times in as many minutes that "Death of Distance": the nickname of my father's and my 1984 book. Link this with one more serendipity: the week in DC had started with a visit from silicon valley brainjams - a roadshow and open space movement collaborative participation in waving news around what web2.1 can do.

Can you imagine a bigger open space than a peoples politics sans frontieres -that's the compass that www.simpol.org 1 seeks to collaborate around anywhere people want to develop speakers corners on the issues that go beyond nations and shoprt-term (leadership by =4-year terms) if they are every to be harmoniously resolved. Not that we have ever, now that a networking world punishes every interaction between 2 non-harmonising neighbours.

Unfortunately, powerful people are too busy to find 3 days in their diaries for mutual meetings this side of eternity, so simpol has had to evolve one hour cafes

one of the first of these was help in the Friends house - it was on the human rights to water as connected by the man who has linked more of this topic across S American tahn anyone else even cheerleading the Brazilian Catholic Church to make 2004 the year of water in people dialogues scripted through its 7000 odd parishes.

In March 2006, our Brazilian friend gives us another 1 hour cafe update for those most concerned about this topic. The chalenge is to try and get busy people to join in. Who might this be:
eg someone from tomorrows company, whose annual lecture at the end of mrch is being given by Al Gore
someone from photosythesis water and energy is the number 1 peoples innovation-implementation of this decade
someone for Anita Roddick and her troubled waters
someone uniting religions and their views of human rights
someone for the Brazilian embassy who can update theiur latest view on the 100 peoples projects being invested in round the river basins of the world's largest dam at Foz
someone frrom bethechnage if they are interested in linking london and water and Gandhi
someone from GRN if water is a reconcilitaion issue between palestine and israel and simpol Japan's hub
who else?
is there anyone from open space world?

Do Large Scale facilitators also talk about and collaborate around CONCEPT NETWORKS?
First, concept network is an emerging term. If you already use different language for the idea, why not tell me at wcbn007@easynet.co.uk Me no wheel reinventor! That said here are 2 examples of concept networks currently going the rounds. Do you have one to add or want to join in either round?
CONCEPT NETWORKS what might these be?
1For example, there are about 10 well endowed (mulitibillion dollar) hi-tech philanthropists' foundations. Does even one of them enable a concept virtual community where a thousand or so people could debate ideas and if one best contender got produced a year, the foundation would find some small way of testing it out.
2we know of many cultural creatives (young at heart in any city we visit who want to change the world's humanity on at least one issue that seems to make common sense as well as provide a bridge to multicultural harmony and ending terror); however if you ask yourself the question, what list of 20 attributes help measure whether a city supports or pollutes the atempts of young creatives to activate such good work for humanity:where is the listing being commonly debated? if you do have a listing, do you know of one city anywhere whose system supports more of the attributes than it destroys. We don't but our correspondents are looking through 100 cities,-why not join in such a colaboration survey or suggest some young people do?
cheers chris macrae wcbn007@easynet.co.uk
http://exponentials.blogspot.com
http://project30000.blogspot.com/2000_01_01_project30000_archive.html

Elsewhere, people are asking : Why do we usually unwelcome views different from ours and are encouraged by the views in agreement to ours?

It's a goodwilled & very big question, http://goodwillwars.blogspot.com and here may be a scaleable clue:
A few years ago, I heard this guy's life-story. At university, his postgraduate thesis explored community. He told me the motivation: as a kid he grew up on the Italian side of the border with Yugoslavia and if he wandered over the wrong side he got shot at? Natural kids question: why
In his research, one question he looked at: was how did national boundaries and identities form and then expentially compound http://exponentials.blogspot.com?
He found: usually because peoples had a very opposite view (gravitational value, beliefs or context of sustainability) from their neighbours. ie national borders were drawn geographically around opposing identities. Do you know one that isn't?
I guess if we wholly knew (if we educated our kids from 9 up http:/ninenow.blogspot.com ) that the reason that any community is formed is in opposition to one that did not give peoplle the space they wanted, we would adjust a lot of our time and effort to working to connect boundaries. we'd start over-welcoming people from another community to see if we could build higher order communities of communities. In fact since networks are nothing unless they interface systems or communities, this may be mankind's final compound challenge
for 30 years entrepreneurial revolution networks which I catalogue have tacitly thought this is the great economics challenge of our timeshttp://entrepreneurialrevolution.blogspot.com - will you write a one-page script with us connecting your view and ours as part of our 30th birtday party since publication 1976 of Entrepreneurial Revolution in The Economist
http:/exponentials.blogspot.com
PS where does my deep community thread lurk - he's Livio at http://www.headshift.com - please send him my regards if you do commune with him

I mailed this today to the thousand plus alumni of OS at the listserve - look forward to seing and updating here with nature of response:

London has buckets full of challenges that need top and bottom in same open space: safety and future of multicultiural city, pensions, education, healthcare then as english language centre of public media we get most of the makepovertyhistory or help our poor nation agendas clarified in gut-wrenchingly transparent ways
what we don't know is how to get people who have the most specific power (ie either budget or elected job authority or media opinion leading platforms etc) around London (but also the confusion according to Harrison's 3cs of PoP) to join open space with people who have the concern; I have noted people trying for over 5 years now from the first OS I encountered hosted by Bridget peake to 500 people open spaces such as the last Colin Morley even hosted for www.bethechnage.org.uk
so can anyone who has a great invitation experience (that host's stage of OS which generates the right people coming at every level connected with the conflict) for getting top and bottom to join into one of the top 10 peoples crises of their place, please remind us how they did it
cheerschris macrae http://clubofvillage.blogspot.com

Can we open space on learning slavery & the competitive disadvantage of nation?

Learning Slavery is a discussion I first heard moderated in an open circle by Japanese Professor of Knowledge Management Modjtaba Sadria, a fellow participant at annual gatherings of Global Reconciliation Network 1 2. I volunteer as London linksperson of this meta-Network founded by cross-cultural youth amd medical professionals whose annual retreats have so far been in Melbourne, London, Delhi, Sarajevo, Palestine (coming 2006), and whose extraordinary project assemblies have visited Tsunami Coastlines and other reconciliation areas caused by Disasters

---

The Competitive Disadvantage of Nations
As this thread is about the future shock of revolutions - a topic grown men and economists have been known to stamp their feet on like spoilt children - let us begin the 1980s. 26 years ago Harrison Owen evolved the first of what became 50000 open spaces to date, facilitated in nearly 100 countries by up to 1000 alumni. There is no simpler method of innovation if your system map of human communications dialogues revolves around getting all involved people simultaneously through a conflict barrier. (Some of these disciplinary tribes will be sabotaging if not openly at war with each other the more critical the innovation challenge has become to the top or survival of the firm - so bring humanity out into the open so they can all get back to connecting to find the higher order resolution than their separate views will ever lead to alone, how ever preciously timesheeted some professions have made themselves. Innovation is as weak as your most humanly detiled missing link; this is almost always interdisciplinary!)

Early on -perhaps space trial 200- Harrison had lunch with the top person of an USA association dedicated to management education. After listening to how open space invites all workers concerned with a revolutionary innovation to participate in meeting, debating, co-organising experiments, being the open future network which will resolve the context's value multiplying future exponential; the top man stood up and said: Harrison if you are correct then 95% of what academic specialities of management teach will be wrong. His PA stood up and said 99%; they stomped out; and to this day their asociation is a sworn enemy of letting higher education open space in MBA curricula. They have done things such as write learned papers over the last 20 years so that open space and living the brand is excluded from brand valuation or innovation or knowledge networking. They have teamed up with every major profession that finds it more lucrative to separate its own business case than connect with other professions. More lucrative to peddle a standard rather than admit organisational leadership needs be deeply organic, contextual, beyond what the profession's standard knows deeply about sustaining.

Today, well over 90% of what you might read in Porter's Competitive advantage of nations - or any economic treatise that puts competitive boundarising alone (aka economic externalising) as more vital than collaborations - is wrong, and compounding exponentially greater wrong. Wrong mathematically; wrong ethically; wrong in terms of financial sustainabiliy -ie not multiplying volatility's risks of bubbling up and down; wrong in terms of any relationship dynamic humans value beyond the last quarter's monetary take; wrong for the future of your kids, the sustainability of nature. How wrong does the boundarised scientific mind need to become before we people celebrate deep voices who question it, who provide spaces for communities to declare their grassroots needs however blind the top is to the fact that eg 10% of folk in New Orleans can't drive cars, so a washington DC evacuation plan is as useless as a gaggle of Arabian horses as a new Orleans evacuation plan unless you permit local voices to openly question it ahead of its real-time need. Why are some top funders of scientists so vain that they don't want to include local-up views- perhaps because by including diversity, there would be less money in patenting one fit all standard approaches. Perhaps because instead of soundbiting, the true academic leader would want to promote open questions for a community to resolve as much as handing answers on a plate. perhaps because this would also show that teaching our kids to always prepare for the next standards exam is an abortion of context deep learning , and a sacrilege to using email to co-mentor each other, and to love crossing cultures . Perhaps because (I leave you - dear peoples communicator - to complete the next sentence now you are into the cluetrain of the peoples communications revolution)This leads us on to the following script on The Collaborative Advantage of Nations in a Networking age -see link

Open Theatre

Phelim McDermott - The Guardian
A few weeks ago, I wrote an invitation for an event that I called Devoted and Disgruntled. I hoped to gather people together to take some action about the things we are and aren't happy with in theatre. I recognised that, after working in theatre and performance for 20 years, although I still loved it, I was unhappy about a lot of things. But I was also fed up of whingeing: it was time to shut up and do something. I wasn't sure if anyone would be interested, but within three weeks over 200 people had contacted my company, Improbable, wanting to come. Clearly, it's not just me who feels devoted and disgruntled.
Although an established theatre company, Improbable works outside the mainstream. We perform where it feels right for the project, whether that is in a field or at the National Theatre. This raises a question. If you don't run a theatre building, what is your place in the theatre community, and what is your responsibility to it?
It has always surprised me how staid theatre's organisational and structural systems seem to be in comparison with many of those in business circles. It is as if all the creativity and courage is taken up by what happens on the stage, and risk doesn't often happen outside of the rehearsal room.
It was while thinking about this that I came across Open Space Technology. It was created in the mid-1980s by a group of people in collaboration with a guy called Harrison Owen. Owen spent a year organising a two-week conference only to discover that all involved agreed that the best bits had been the coffee breaks. I recognised this from rehearsals. When trying to create a show, we would work hard and get nowhere; it wasn't until we took a break that people began being genuinely creative. Our breaks often lasted longer than our rehearsals. Standard theatre practices don't support this process, but Open Space does.
An Open Space event runs on the fuel of passion, governed by "the law of two feet" - the rule that you mustn't stay at any event you are bored by or are not contributing to. If only theatre operated on this level.
Improbable's Open Space event is this weekend; at the end we will have a documented report of the dreams and plans of 200 people who are devoted, disgruntled or both with British theatre. We may discover our theatre's future.
· Phelim McDermott is the artistic director of Improbable Theatre. Devoted and Disgruntled is at the National Youth Theatre, London N7, on Saturday and Sunday. Details: http://www.improbable.co.uk/.

---

PM reports from after the space:
Interestingly we had two theatre critics at The Open Space event at
the weekend. So like the press only more so. We insisted they
couldn't come unless they participated the whole two days. Afterwards
both said they had never had such communication before with people in
the theatre community and that they felt part of the community for
the first time.
As seen in the list one of the topics convened was "What would happen
if we killed all theatre Critics!".

On December 9, Google melted down 100 colaboration blogs - this is most of what's left of OsofLondon before 9dec - not all links or spacing working! I'll come back & re-edit if the waves and warps of time and challenging contexts permit me!!

Open Space of London - calendar of events, purpose

December 03?
Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Harrison Owen Stories
Probably the most enjoyable lunchtime conversation I ever had was with Harrison Owen originator of open space and host of practiceofpeace.com . What stories and gossip. Twenty years ago after early tests of open space, he had a meeting with the top man of America's management training associations. Harrison though they might be interested in hearing of a better way to host innovation and conflict resolution meetings. After listening to tales of open space, the top man said : harrison if you are right then 95% of what we teach about management is wrong. To this day, that training association censors open space from its curricula. I suspect that people of all ages will never be trained how to use virtual tools to find their own best mentors in life unless the Mice and like spirited communities take a stand on this. I am sure there are better ways or wording the conversational opener to this thread. But what I cant understand is people who love the internet but lurk on this topic. Any light anyone?
posted by macrae.nets @ 7:07 AM

Thursday, February 12, 2004

One of the greatest assemblies of UK open space facilitators held in London -judge the who's who for yourself


Sept 18 2004
Saturday, September 18, 2004

I was at blogwalk4 today which used an open space format to make the most of our collective intelligence. I hadnt previously realised how many bloggers and open space alumni are exploring the same loops of topics which take loops the other way round from the controller's bias- eg is the typical story told in an organsiation trying to narrow down your thinking or ask you to add to its richness? Next stop in London, First Collaboration Knowledge City is the first of a series of cafes on what can any organisation's person learn (and benefit in terms of their social network) from open space styles of meeting formats. Tues 21 Sept at 17.30, main cafe at British Library - mail me at wcbn007@easynet.co.uk if you want to come or have questions.Our first Open Space guide will be Bridget Peake who decided to spend as much of her career as possible helping people to use opne space after a 3 -day circle hosted by Meg Wheatley (1st reference in this link is XXX certificate stuff if you believe in command & control management) Amongst other application areas she has taken open space to are:5 general Create the World We Want – arguably connecting the largest network of change concern folk in Britain (which is admittedly is a sleepy country for change)2 specific CTW3 on education (which has become an idea that other European countries are considering replicating), and international policyCTWWW has also spawned other events like sustainable business exchanges at Findhorn Scotland – probably the largest permanent change community in BritainBridget has also taught young cultural creatives to convene their open spaces as I reported a few months back. She also does open space in business…
posted by macrae.nets @ 6:29 AM






Thursday, May 06, 2004

This week I attended the largest open space I've been at (perhaps London's largest -UtellUS) Wonderful spirits there. Unfortunately they relied on a virtual community platform to document meeting notes and follow up permissions which never sustains a network the same way as a printed document with everyone's (email) contact pointsAt this open space, the topic I hosted was: take back the BBC for the people, not for telling politician's economies of truth; not for failing to analyse whether big corporation's 90 days take and grab is putting people or nature at risk. World service, world largest public broadcaster and it doesnt tell human stories much different from the worst of big commercial networks. No wonder we never learn from tv-what has become the most dumbing down media, ruination of social capital as Putnam's Bowling Alone epitomised. It could well be that the single biggest contribution that Londoners could make in starting to change the world so that all 6 billion beings have a chance to live productively and commune joyfully is to take back the BBC for the people. Since part of me and my career is a media expert (for all my sins); I will keep at this one whilst there's breath in me. All help welcome. Moreover, BeTheChange inspired me to learn more about GandhiDecember 04: Follow-up note. Got to Delhi at the annual meeting of Global Reconciliation Network (1,2 . Fortuntately, the local host at the Indira Gandhi nation Centre is a senior civil servant in charge of all large socila congresses. He tells me the world's invited to a centenary celebration of gandhi in 2007. I've decided to start cataloguing and association that is inpsired by gandhi worldwide outside India- Can you help me here?
posted by macrae.nets @ 6:39 AM 0 comments


MARCH 2005
makepovertyhistory - Fringe - Open Space
What an open-world day. Why can't they all be?My body criss-crossed London to attend both spiritual sessions:Official MPH (300 NGOs in UK, several thousand collaborating worldwide) questioning Trade & Industry Minister Patricia Hewitt on how could the UK lead Europe into trade justice & more transparent aid, freed from conditions; and as Prime Ministering Blair now sees supporting Africa 1,,2 (not the Iraq) war as the legacy he'd prefer to be known with, we politely mentioned Londoners fun take over of Downing Street scheduled night of 15 April as the high point of the people's news during the runup for the national elections. Patricia asked whether politicians had been invited to the pecae readings at Westminster hall; the people's answer was first come, first seated.Over at Islington's Window owned by an Enlightenment net, Patrick Moore, who among 20000 virtual ecademacians in 100 countruies is our most poverty concerned linksman in the West, was open spacing the First ever event in the Fringe of Make Poverty History. Unlike the Official NGOs of MPH, the fringe tries to connect every person's socially concerned network in the most time sensible and hi-trust ways . You can see more of Patrick's updates at this Fringe blog of MPH or if you need to openly need to connect with Fringe MPH through him say why and I will act as a POBox, or try to help if you say how. Chris Macrae, wcbn007@easynet.co.ukHere's a sampling of the ingoing expereinces brought to this space:Logistics in Africa, Business Advisor,Coach,Sustainable enterprise,Technology/visualisation,Transformation expert,Writer,Politics/PRMicrofinance,Gender equality,Intuition,Service Delivery (NGO),Emergence, CSR / Reputation Assurance,Healthcare,Project ManagementFilm producer,NetworkingOne of our continuing hobbyhorses is to develop an atlas of the world, but where on each page you see locations linked by the same urgent human rights issue and codes as to what the root causes or next sustainability steps need to be. Early days: but here's one visual from Patrick; we welcome any open visual progress in this area especially over at this thread where files are easier for me to store (send them in to Chris Macrae)
posted by macrae.nets @ 4:52 AM

1 Comments:
At 2:07 PM, lu said...
Hi ChrisLucas from OSLIST hereA few months ago I created http://imagina-canarias.blogspot.com - in Spanish.Might want some help openning space here in the Canaries, sometime.


May5-7 2005

Be The Change May 5-7
I gather this year's BeTheChange may not have any open space unlike last year. Still its one of London's largest chnage newtok meetings of the year with usually 400 turning up. Have tabled this and last year's speakers. (Year round you can post Q&A about BeTheChange type events at this European Union space)Some issues:How does one prepare a handout or other way to maximise snaps across this network both between people there, muyself as go-between, and other networks I am in? More generally where permitted to animate fringe events around a large central one (eg one hour cafes to start or end the day- anyione interested in sharing experiences? I guess if the question is pertinent enough -either to speaker of net - we can always tru and get the organsiers to feed it through more directly than the virtual community linkable to above. Still feed through up to people abd central people of net and around is a practice I'd love to hear your ways round
• Ray Anderson - Chairman & founder of Interface Inc (& featured in The Corporation) • Boo Armstrong - founder of UK health innovator, Get Well UK • Chris Astill-Smith - kinesiologist, biochemist and founder of Metabolics • Richard Barrett - pioneer in developing values-driven organisations • Rinaldo Brutoco - president of the World Business Academy • Deepak Chopra - renowned physician and author • James Cusumano - founder & former chair of Catalytica; energy futurist • Norman Drummond - social entrepreneur, chaplain; founder of Columba 1400 leadership centre • Lucien Gill - water engineer and inventor • Julia Hausermann - director of Rights and Humanity in the UK • Dadi Janki - Joint leader of the Brahma Kumaris • Satish Kumar - editor, Resurgence Magazine; Program Director, Schumacher College • Michael Lerner - President of Commonweal (health and environmental research institute in California) • Bernard Lietaer - designer of the Euro, currency futurist • Elizabet Sahtouris - evolutionary biologist • Vandana Shiva - physicist, ecologist and globalisation activist • Sonia Stojanovic - leader of the Cultural Transformation programme at ANZ Bank in Australia
Lynne Twist-author of the The Soul of Money, Lynne, until recently chairaldy of The Hunger Project has the unparalleled experience of raising $150 million for the public good. Ms. Twist is president of the Turning Tide Coalition, trustee of the John E. Fetzer Institute), co-chair of the board of the Institute of Noetic Sciences (research into the potentials and powers of consciousness—including perceptions, beliefs, attention, intention, and intuition) and also serves the Global Security Institute, the Kudirat Institute for Democracy (supporting democracy in Africa and programs to strengthen the status of women and youth), and Educate Girls Globally (promoting girls' primary education in developing countries through community participation to increase enrollment and retention of girls). In addition, Lynne Twist has served in leadership roles with Youth for Environmental Sanity (an international young people’s group focused on social justice and environmental progress)...Frank Dixon-advocate of Total Corporate Responsibility, a principle which calls for businesses to take a broader responsibility for balancing the current economic system which is failing to serve two-thirds of the worldJim Garrison-the visionary behind the State of the World Forum, author of a new and challenging book - America as Empire Don Beck-co-creator of Spiral Dynamics Integral, a leading edge appreciation of evolutionery psychology and one of the world’s most comprehensive approaches to whole systems change Elisabet Sahtourisan evolution biologist who believes that the ‘natural systems’ demonstrated by nature have much to teach us and that the environmental crisis is our greatest challenge Dr Alan Watkins-a leading British neuro-scientist, pioneering understanding of the biological basis of performance and self-mastery - with schools, elite athletes and business
posted by macrae.nets @ 2:55 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, May 03, 2005

world cafe correspondence
Dave Cox wrote:A new book just came out. The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter by Juanita Brown with David Isaacs. It describes a group process where participants move (through several rounds) from table to table making connections among conversations devoted to a guiding question. A host remains at each table to welcome the new group. The process seems very compatible with Open Space. I was wondering what experienced Open Spacers think of The World Cafe process and how you would differentiate between their use?Therese Fitzparick writes:I haven't read the exact book you reference, Dave, but I did just read Juanita Brown's doctoral dissertation and I bet the book closely parallels what I read.People that I deeply and wholeheartedly respect have talked more and more about World Cafe and these people seem to think it is something whollly new and different. To me, World Cafe is just a new spin on large scale meeting design. I don't quite get why so many people I deeply respect think it is something so new and so different.I am perfectly willing to believe it is an excellent meeting methodology, one among several.I don't think organizations need new structured meeting tools: I think organizations need to have gatherings that build and nurture its capacity for self organization. I don't see how self organization is nurtured through structured conversations.I can see how hanging out in a World Cafe, moving from table to table, would be a lovely experience and give satisfaction to a client organization. But to me it sounds like same-old, same-old. . . with a lovely and wonderful new buzz.Chris Macrae writes:I think there is a desperate need for a 1 hour (2 hour max) café/circle format -let them openly multiply and see which thriveI would like to see open space people catalogue those clarifying what it is that you give up in each format compared with the full 3 day open space. Seen from this perspective: world café is only one of various viable formats, and like Open Space itself, there is also potential for huge execution slip, but the more with WC the less clear it makes what its minimal rules areWhen it comes to cafes giving up something I believe this is perfectly legitimate to love open space but to want to do its spirit more often than 3-day events will allow, as well as induct people in the possibilities who will never start with a 3-day event. Those managers who are most out of control of their time -and other people's - paradoxically need Open Space most but will seldom find the 3-day starting lineHere is a context of critical interest to me and people in large cities I network with. It is not like World Café's which says its scale to any number by multiplying tables in circulation but it is intent on maximizing the learning of the 12Suppose that we put all the same effort into an invitation process so that contextually the people who come are the right people; suppose that we make the maximum number at a café 12. Speaking very personally I simply do not believe JC would have used WC, but then I have given up understanding what many people mean by both faith and bushes because I am just a mathematician who likes seeing what maps people connect around.Suppose what we "mathematicial open sourcers" want to know after 2 hours is which of those people will continue networking for ever until the invitation's puzzle is resolved at least in all the minds of those who join in.How does one do that café? I suspect within the facilitation experiences of this listserve there is much wisdom for iteratively designing the answer as anywhere. And at least in terms of learning networks, this open source café's "Request for Design" could be a baby in the open space family??Chris Macrae, wcbn007@easynet.co.uk London 0793 144 2446 & DC http://www.disruptive-mice.org/forums/24/ShowForum.aspxThe most disruptive virtual café known until you all beam us upPeggy Holman writes:What can I say about World Cafe? I've used it on several occasions as a follow-on to a panel discussion. It gave people a chance to make meaning out of what they heard.My personal experience is that people who have never experienced an OS find it wonderful. As a participant, I felt quite constrained. As a facilitator, I felt like a tyrant with two left feet.I recently had the great pleasure to meet Juanita and learn of TWC's origins. It actually grew out of a natural, serendipitous occurrence. During a meeting, because of rainy weather in sunny California, the hosts (Juanita and others) in a inspiration of whimsy, set up an intimate cafe-like setting for breakfast. People gathered in small groups continuing to discuss the subject matter from the night before. They were having such a good time that the facilitators (wisely) left them to their own devices. After a while, someone in the group said, "I want to know what's going on at the other tables." Others agreed. So the group decided to leave a host at each table and mix themselves up.There is a natural impulse behind TWC. It's caused me to take another look. What intrigues me about TWC is that it seems to very quickly create a holographic map of the territory, it seems to accelerate the path to coherence. What sends me screaming from the room is someone controlling the flow.I have come to believe that one of the inherent goodnesses of all of the other processes that I've played with is they leave people hungry for more of the tiny bit of space they experience. For that reason, I believe all roads ultimately lead to Open Space, where it's essence is so much about liberation (thanks for that notion, Christine), taking responsibility for what you love. This, made all the more clear because the role of facilitation is to get out of the way, so that, as Harrison often says, it is exquisitely clear who is responsible for one's experience.I wonder about TWC meeting the law of two feet. I like the reflective potential of TWC, where people are pondering the same framing of the question(s). I wonder how to give it back to the people, as it was in the creation story.still dark in Seattle,Peggy________________________________Peggy HolmanThe Open Circle Company15347 SE 49th PlaceBellevue, WA 98006(425) 746-6274www.opencirclecompany.com

7 July 2005
It seems I will need to explore more than one meaning of "you are my sunshine" 1 2

My soulmate Colin Morley died today in the underground bombings. The third time I have lost a great younger mentor or family member, so these days I just redouble what my spirit says we could. I hope he would agree with me redoubling efforts with our collaboration simpol cafes, Club of Pakistan and ecoSaintJames. Colin loved community and facilitated in real time what my mathematical brain nver can. Like me he connected the world of media , global branng, innovation, be the change, sustainability investment. He is the reason why I and 500 other Londoners at the Royal Society of Arts 1 2 got to hear from one of the worlds' s leading chairman who stand up for the sustainability of life as being valued in business cases raher than being externalised out by speculators who dont know the value multiplication difference between true shareholder valuation and being Andersoned or Enroned. He was the communal host of Be The Change (postings above). He joined in the parties at Medinge and Beyond-Branding which over 100 media reformes have been to since 2000 and our 8 retreats around Europe. And I found this blog entry from his space empowerment illustrated:
Sustainability « Service Profit Chain Main Theory of empowerment »
-->
May 23, 2004

Chris's Question
At the Be the Change event Chris suggested that we do something that he learned from Meg Wheatley. He said that if you ask yourself a question every day for 14 days then a change will take place. My question after the conference is about Sustainability and the Environment - a subject that I have always felt concerned about and not done much about. 'How can I learn about Sustainability and persuade corporate people to listen to it?'
Frank Dixon told us that ethical corporations actually perform better as investments. His company Innovest has a number of papers to download here. One of them by a body called MISTRA with research by SustainAbility says that there is a strong link established now between:
- corporate reputations with socio economic development and strong ethics and business principles in companies- shareholder value and the improvement in performance of production processes and- human and intellectual capital and good workplace conditions.
This seem to tie together with the Service Profit Chain. It links the importance of the planet and society as stakeholders in a corporation with the other stakeholders including customers and employees.

---

OLD SIDEBAR

Posts most urgently needed to fill in historical gaps as i only started this April 05 or from Open Spaces who want to co-edit this or a sister's city; all mail welcome
Technically an open space should have 2 overnights (3 days); however in London we include 1 day formats; circular hosting nearer 1-2 hours we call cafes
Searching OS & Owen at webs Londoners post a lot to
OSUK - Owen
EU knowledge OS,,Owen
Hot Co-blogs include: ,,2
Join: World's IMAGINE! Community
About Me
Name:chris macrae
City:Club of City, State:Future of London,FutureCode:BBCAs a mapmaker of networks, I like hi-trust questions by email. Mathematician & coach in a worldwide team open sourcing the audit of trust-flow and 10 billion intangibles mapmaking. We use over 100 blogs to network deep context ( eg 1, 2,3, 4 ) and more traditional educational channels (A,B,C ). More about me
View my complete profile I don't do facilitation of open space, but a bit like a film producer my interest is in opening future pathways and helping the biggest or deepest communal spaces happen. When you see networks of 300 organisations coming together in London as, a lead Collaboration City, to try to accelerate governments around the world above their tortoise like pace in ending poverty and systemic failures to see how learning can take all 6 billion beings well above zero-sum economics - wow do we need some open space all around London, and way beyond. Oddly the internet and the open space were born to serve each other in helping people change any systems that are spinning viciously around them
Links
Google News
Edit-Me
Edit-Me
Previous Posts
We seek to list every purpose that has been networ...
Be The Change May 5-7
makepovertyhistory - Fringe - Open Space
I was at blogwalk4 today which used an open space ...
This week I attended the largest open space I've b...
One of the greatest assemblies of UK open space fa...
Archives
February 2004
May 2004
September 2004
March 2005
May 2005
December 2006
Current Posts

Reports on What Open Space Technology Is

Report 1 By Observer & Valuer of Open Space in Relation to other Approaches but not a trained facilitator. Chris Macrae - I welcome questions on this report at wcbn007@easynet.co.uk

I see Open Space as the simplest systemic method definable if you want to enable all people in a communal evolution -intimately connected by a conflict or innovation challenge - to participate openly. OS invites all the positive energy people wish to spend in connecting ideas on how to help everyone see ways ahead for resolving the challenge harmoniously for all concerned.

By simplest I mean that OS lets the people and the context enrichen each other’s actions and learnings without adding any extra instructions. If a facilitator adds anything to open space, they are imposing some sort of structure representing one person’s view rather than the open community’s view; and they are making the experience no longer wholly comparable to around 50000 pure Open Space stagings that have been planted around the world over the last quarter century.

By a systemic approach, I mean one that is designed to interface with other systemic approaches, which it hands over to or feeds from, depending on the boundary conditions designed around the approach. Across systemic tools, communal context is vital. Any system, indeed any systemic intervention , is misleading for all involved unless we can transparently map what future exponential -consequences and context- our design aims to change through integration of human productivities and demands, as well as learnings or other constitutional structures that sustain everyone's trust through everyone's gain.

A typical open space is expected to be a 3-day event in which tens, hundreds or even a few thousand people participate. So natural boundary questions to ask are : what happens after the open space, what preparations (eg invitations) come before an open space, can practices be learnt from open space that do not take 3 days to facilitate?

The reasoning for 3 days , at least as I see it, is: that if people are joining in who start in deep conflict with each other , the first day is needed to get them to see each other as people trying their best to resolve a conflict which is everyone’s responsibility to explore new ways round. The second day starts producing some actionable ideas, which get built on with the freshness of a third day, which also starts to summarise some of the emerging streams of solutions which people volunteer towards continuing and connecting after the end of the open space.

What Happens After OS?
Crucially this does depend on the community, the sponsor and the participants of the event being up for the full relationship permissions contract of open space. Namely as people leave the open space they will be given a full documentation outlining every meeting that took place, main action conclusions or learnings, who was at the meeting, how to recontact them, any other web links that people at that meeting all saw as seminal to their communed perspective. It also tends to depend on enough volunteers standing up during the third day to assemble some emerging project streams so that everyone can see that the open space is moving on around the breakthrough they have glimpsed. One way I would use to describe a successful open space at day 3 is that it has taken everyone simultaneously through the door of the conflict they shared so they can see what greater harmony on the other side looks like, but of course without a lot of action projects and reformed constitution for integral coordination the open space itself is no guarantee that necessary reconciliations needed to bring about the change will iteratively occur nor that this will be worked through in a way that propagates through the larger population involved with the conflict than the molecular representation of the actual participants of the OS.

What Happens Before OS?
One of the premises of Open Space is : the people who come are the right people. They have given their passion, time and willingness to try to engage in this deep challenge. However this also depends on an invitation process that clarifies the challenge's urgency, invites people from all sides and all levels of communal power or service etc. The creativity –storytelling, urgency of innovation etc - needed to get enough diversity of everyone connected by the communal challenge to join in , as well as the host’s authority, trust and overall love of everyone involved with the communal crisis, can make or break what the whole of the open space will achieve.

Participation in one fully performed open space is highly likely to change your view of efficient dynamics of meetings and ways of networking with people. As well as listening ever more deeply, it may encourage you to intervene in everyday meetings flows in far more wholly caring, transparent or contextually innovative ways than you were previously aware of. It seems that if you as an OS graduate come to be in charge of hosting a meeting and only have 90 minutes, half a day, or one day, as a graduate of open space, you will reframe what it is truly possible to expect from such meetings, as well as prepare in advance ways of starting that encourage questioning of conflicts before rushing to answers. We could start up quite a long menu of shorter meeting formats that are partially inspired by open space but the risk of rushing this is similar to that of adding extra facilitation into the 3 day open space itself (adding complexity or non-comparability with whole open spaces). So, I do not have space for this menu here!

What More?
If you do find open space a transformation breakthrough, what other systemic approaches may you love to know about.?
As a transparency mapmaker and valuer of open networks (system*system interactions including whether globalisation of market sectors value integration of all societies), I have started to want to connect different typologies of systemic approach, including the following :
In Open Space’s Conflict resolving territory, an approach which wholly interfaces with open space (because it achieves a different stage whilst flowing to and from open space) is Deep Democracy

For communities and global villages to be empowered by their own deepest contexts, we need both real social hubs (community centres people can freely meet at and socialise around) as well as virtual jams through which local communities can see which peoples around the world are confronting analogous challenges

We need a people’s economics –valuing context-up trust-flows, transparency and sustainability – which changes all the measurement professions of management to invest wholly in people and contexts through time- which audits potential conflicts ahead of time as there is no sustainable growth without leadership dedicated to removing conflicts that will otherwise conflict a system’s purpose and communal futures

Up to 2005 at openspaceuk.com, the following subscribed to communally advance recognition of Open Space in the UK - does your country have a similar net?

David Adams
Adams Associates (website under construction)

Malcolm Allan
Authentic Transformational Leadership Limited
e: malcolm.allan@atleadership.com
East Grinstead, West Sussex

Alan Arnett
Natural Distinctions
South Woodham Ferrers, Chelmsford, Essex

Karen Barr
Pentland Training & Consultancy
e: karen@pentland-training.co.uk
Farnham, Surrey

Anne Beauchamp
Hamilton Lock
e: anne@hamiltonlock.com
London

Julie Beedon
VISTA Consulting Team Limited
Lichfield, Staffordshire

Mike Bell
The Wisdom Meme

Valerie Bickerton
Cranfield University

Paul Birch
Visionjuice

Tom Bourner
University of Brighton

Deborah Brown

Amanda Bucklow
Facilit8 Communications Limited
London

Geof Cox
New Directions
e: geofcox@newdirections.uk.com

Paul Cox
VISTA Consulting Team Limited

Mo Cohen
thenew.org

John Cook

Chris Cooke
5 Deep Limited

John Cottrell
hba UK Ltd
e: cottrelljs@btinternet.com
Hertfordshire

Geof Cox
New Directions

Paul Cox
VISTA Consulting Team Limited

Neil Crofts
Authentic Business

Alison Cross
Halfords

Richard Cross

Mari Davis

Chris Dixon

Daniel Doherty

George Dunwoody

Richard Elsner
The Point

David Firth
Treefrog Limited
Flockton, West Yorkshire
Ty Francis
Qualia

Terry Gibson
e: terry.gibson@virgin.net
Christchurch, Dorset

Julian Greatrex
Rex Consulting
e: julian.greatrex@btinternet.com
Woodford, Essex

Lin Grist
Chrysalis Consulting
e: lingrist@chrysalisconsulting.com
London

Cythia Haddock
Haddock Hughes Limited

Maggie Havergal
Open Futures Limited

Andy Hayward
Catalyst
e: Andy@catalysteurope.com
Kendal, Cumbria

Susan Holder
Sadek Wynberg Millward Brown

Jeffrey Hyman
Food & Drink Innovation Network
London

Roma Iskander
Health Directions
e: romaiskander@aol.com
London

Fiona Jamieson
e: fionajamieson@ntwork.com
London

Josef Coates-Davies
josef@uniteddiversity.com
London

Philip Joseph
Philip Joseph Consulting
e: Philip.Joseph@chrysalis.fsbusiness.co.uk
Rotherfield , near Crowborough, East Sussex

Eamon Keenan

Liz Kingsnorth

Gina Lawrie
YKW Consultants www.GnB.org.uk
e: gl @ ykw . com
West London

Jean-Marc le Tissier
Idea Space
e: jean-marc@idea-space.com
Richmond, Surrey

Martin Leith
Leith Co-Creation
Bristol

Paul Levy
CATS3000 Limited

David Lloyd

Amanda Long

Hamilton Lock
London

Bob Mannering
The Success Group
e: bob.mannering@thesuccessgroup.co.uk
London

Geoff Mead
Hermes Consulting

Sarah-Jane Menato
Inside Out
Cotswolds

Andrew Miller
insidework@bigfoot.com
London

Rosie Miller
The Success Group

Peter Mumford
EPI Associates Ltd

Kerry Napuk
Open Futures Limited
e: k@napuk.demon.co.uk
Edinburgh, Scotland

Ian Newsome
West Yorkshire Police

Bruce Nixon
Bruce Nixon Associates

Phil O'Connor
Halfords

Suzanne O'Hara
University of Brighton

Eddie Palmer
Open Futures Limited
e: eddie@palmer4421.freeserve.co.uk
Forfar, Scotland (between Dundee and Aberdeen)

Bridget Peake
Open Sesame
e: bridget@unleash-the-potential.com
London

Siân Peake-Jones
Open Minds Consulting Ltd
e: admin@open--minds.co.uk
Rowen, Conwy, north Wales

Michael Pezet
Mike Pezet

Gary Purser
Gary Purser & Associates

Anne Radford
Anne Radford
e: editor@aipractitioner.com
London

Paul Roberts

Peter Robinson

Robert Rogers
CTC Europe

Michael Schimmelschmidt
Purple Consulting
London

Maria Scordialos
Harå
e: maria.scordialos@virgin.net
Corsham, Wiltshire

Romy Shovelton
Wikima Consulting
e: romy@wikima.com
London

Norrie Silvestro
NWS Assessment & Development

Francis Standish

Julie Stuart
Sustainable NI
e: julie@sustainableni.org

Tav
WTF
London

Ian Craig Taylor
The Deva Partnership Ltd

Ann Terry
Healthy Solutions Consultancy
e: a.terry@virgin.net

Steve Trivett
Birmingham City Council (and ChangeZone)

Nic Turner
Limited Nowhere

Nick Udall
Nowhere Group

Jonathan Wadd
British Gas - Home Service

Jim Wade
Advanced Training / Business Improvement Network
e: jim.wade@a-t.co.uk
Reading, Berkshire

Peter Walker
Beyond
e: pjwa@globalnet.co.uk
Burghfield, near Reading, Berkshire

Charlie Watson
Charlie Watson Staff Development & Training

Drennan Watson
Landwise Scotland
Bridge of Alford, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Sarah Whiteley
Harå
e: sarahwhiteley.hara@virgin.net
Corsham, Wiltshire

Adele Wilter
Surrey County Council

Dave Winkler
Halfords

Annette Zera
e: azera@blueyonder.co.uk
London

Milda Zinkus
e: milda@zinkus.com or milda@solve360.com
Edinburgh

Open Space advocates

Geoffrey Higgins
The Matara Centre
Kingscote, near Tetbury, Gloucestershire

Chris Macrae
Valuetrue
e: wcbn007@easynet.co.uk

2001-2004 some notes & links on open space I picked up along the way of experiencing it and Harrison Owen

Other Open Space threads at KB: 1 2

H. Owen: In facilitation, less is more

Click the link labelled GLOBAL to enter the search of open space logs by 400 alumin practising Harrison's "simplest way of communing" in 80 countries- some other first choices update here: Open Space OST & PoP- Potomac MD- also 80 countries including UK, India, GLOBAL, Estonia/Croatia

Open Space & Today's Greatest Value Conflict Barriers
In the 1980s, Harrison Owen devised Open Space, as the simplest way to maximise everyone's participation wherever hundreds of people meet ( to discuss an innovation challenge or renew community or networking). Between 50000- 100000 Open Spaces have happened, helping to progress some of the most extraordinary human challenges in business or society.

conversational context, someone asked Harrison recently: "Has anyone on the list ever used a "visioning" meditation exercise as part of the opening of an Open Space? The kind of exercise I'm thinking of would be something like this . . ." First off -- Visioning is undoubtedly a useful, no essential, activity. Second -- in my experience of Open Space, visioning is where it starts and ends. So it is not so much about "adding" visioning to Open Space, but rather, enhancing the quality of visioning already taking place. I am sure there are multiple preconditions for effective visioning -- but two which seem paramount to me are focus and presence. By focus I mean a clear intention on the part of the groups to deal with the issue at hand -- and everybody knows what that is. Further more they really care about it. Secondly, Presence -- which means to me that the group is really and truly in that present moment with their full attention. Nothing is perfect, but this means that idle thoughts have largely been put to one side (last week's sales numbers, next week's convention, tonight's football game) and the space is really open for new possibilities to emerge. In my experience, when these preconditions are in effect, powerful visioning seems to happen all by itself. Indeed, it sometimes seems that it could not -- NOT happen, not just at the beginning of the Open Space, but also as a recurring phenomenon through out -- and beyond. One other thing which seems to be relevant here is the whole notion of "Less is more" -- or stated in terms of my personal mantra -- "Think of one more thing NOT to do." I find that vision (particularly collective vision) happens best when there is space for it to occur -- in the silences. In a word, vision is not something to be given -- rather something to be experienced in its own emergence. So I would be very careful not to get in the way.


Harrison says these conditions make for great Open Spaces: -A genuine issue of mutual concern which elicits a high degree of passion -High levels of complexity in terms of elements of the issue -High levels of diversity in terms of the people involved -The presence of actual or potential conflict -A decision time of yesterday – ie the issue was not a sometime thing but demanded immediate attention

---

Below some notes on experiencing 2-day open space -yup I do know the whole enchillada should be 3 but two is sometimes all one can get city people to pack into a weekend!

Most basic description of Open Space as a meeting Process designed to make the most use of 200 people’s conversation time in a 2-day congregational gathering, and as a community/network thereafter 

 

(Advisory: there are many nuances to Open Space that this basic description doesn’t begin to refer to – imagine the execution difference between a wonderful theatrical production where the audience is the theatre, and something less, and you might not want a one-page introduction – for more email me at wcbn007@easynet.co.uk and I’ll share my latest bookmarks)

 

BASIC DESCRIPTION OF OPEN SPACE

Before the open space agendas, some combination of these things usually happens depending on numbers: -one might go round the circle giving each person a minute to introduce themselves, of if the big circle is too large do that in smaller circles or some team intro game

 

the facilitator or host summarises in some way why everyone has come; this is not a formal presentation because it is assumed everyone has got a deep perspective to connect worth the overall debate, but just to make sure people have switched their expertise on, versus whatever else has been happening to them in the last 24 hours travelling to the space...

 

there may or may not be some spiritual exercise or piece of theatre

 

then we quickly get to asking all of the audience to volunteer any meeting they would like to convene which they see as connected to the reason/challenge we all came here to discuss and find some solutions too or ideas on

 

Essentially each day has 3 or 4 session periods, about an hour long, with say 7 parallel sessions running- a bit like a school timetable

 

Everyone chooses which sessions to go and there is the law of 2 feet which means that if you find negative energy where you first chose to go, just leave and go to another meeting; the moderator will make it clear, leaving is the polite thing to do rather than interfere with the constructive flow of those who are enjoying the topic

 

One person at every meeting is appointed to take short notes, who was there, main points agreed, any actions to take next ; and ideally these get filed on laptops so that half way through the second day all are printed off and become the proceedings report

 

Closure usually takes a third of the second day; it's basically a chance for people to speak up on any great ideas that have occurred and to request continuing project teams if a topic merits that degree of networking

 

With 150 people and 2 days, it is a good idea to have a couple of spiritual people as well as the main facilitator; one might be a story teller; one might organise some dancing although we could probably get by without depending on whether everyone is deeply into whatever they came with, but such spirits do glue community and network in most memorable ways

 

Appendix

Table 1 – some things that Open Space Can Do

Make the most use of time and passion of everyone (usually 30 to 1000 people) who assembles over 2 to 3 day period because they want to progress some shared issue   Dissolve barriers between people so that leave mutually respecting each other   Provide open documentation of every meeting and issue surfaced for all to reflect on and take forward   Ready people to network/practice community thereafter however far flung their geographical connections   Innovate in 2 days what has often proved intractable in 2 years   Experience a heightening of spirit and communal collaboration that you may never have encountered before   Change the way you feel meetings etc should be conducted in the future   Demonstrate that self-organising isn’t just practical but systemically provides organisational advantages of an almost unprecedented nature   Provides the simplest methodology   Involve the participation of those most impacted by an issue, whatever their capabilities   Take another look at education at any level   SWOT conflict, change forces and hierarchy as huge value transformation loci if one can journey through them   Going through the ‘sound barrier’ where key controls change on other side   Celebrating the mess of greatest innovation moments not reconstructing them as orederly from a to z   Communication is 80% Listening – do rgs brand great listening channels   Collecting together each discipline’s greatest paradox and celebrating their meaning into multi-disciplinary practice; egCollaborating over risk before competing over benefit   Knowing and acting on Well 80% of value produced is in the human connectivity before the separated business case   Opening walk and talk and systemic emotional intelligences/productivities of values   Provide an antidote wherever professional disconnections have been compounded over time, or an organisation has lost a common language or alignment to a deep purpose

 

Table 2

Rough Flow of a Basic Open Space

 

The schedule/format of Open Space is very simple and whatever you do make sure nothing diverts from the open space agendas which participants all co-create and some closing of what after meeting responsibilities people volunteer to pursue

 

Before the open space agendas, some combination of these things usually happens depending on numbers: -one might go round the circle giving each person a minute to introduce themselves, of if the big circle is too large do that in smaller circles or some team intro game

 

the facilitator or host summarises in some way why everyone has come; this is not a formal presentation because it is assumed everyone has got a deep perspective to connect worth the overall debate, but just to make sure people have switched their expertise on, versus whatever else has been happening to them in the last 24 hours travelling to the space...

 

there may or may not be some spiritual exercise or piece of theatre

 

then we quickly get to asking all of the audience to volunteer any meeting they would like to convene which they see as connected to the reason/challenge we all came here to discuss and find some solutions too or ideas on

 

Essentially each day has 3 or 4 session periods, about an hour long, with say 7 parallel sessions running- a bit like a school timetable

 

Everyone chooses which sessions to go and there is the law of 2 feet which means that if you find negative energy where you first chose to go, just leave and go to another meeting; the moderator will make it clear, leaving is the polite thing to do rather than interfere with the constructive flow of those who are enjoying the topic

 

One person at every meeting is appointed to take short notes, who was there, main points agreed, any actions to take next ; and ideally these get filed on laptops so that half way through the second day all are printed off and become the proceedings report

 

Closure usually takes a third of the second day; it's basically a chance for people to speak up on any great ideas that have occurred and to request continuing project teams if a topic merits that degree of networking

 

With 150 people and 2 days, it is a good idea to have a couple of spiritual people as well as the main facilitator; one might be a story teller; one might organise some dancing although we could probably get by without depending on whether everyone is deeply into whatever they came with, but such spirits do glue community and network in most memorable

Came across this rich thread here are some extracts: whilst online a few snips from Owen in december 95: Reversion to a norm is not unheard of. In Open Space or anywhere else. There is now absolute no question that in tersm of speed of organization, economy of effort, and quality of outcome, there are few if any approaches which can touch Open Space. Several weeks ago the AT&T design team for the Olympic pavilion found themselves in an interesting spot. They had essentially completed work on the design when the Olympic committee changed the site. Suddenly a design godd for 5000 people a day was supposed to accomodate 75,000 minimum. No way. So back to the drawing boards. Unfortunately, using standard methods, it was going to take 10 months to finis the task, by which time the Olympics would be essentially over. What to do? Enter Open space. In two days they did more than they thought they might accomplish in 10 months Open space works,, works all over the world, with all sorts of people. So why do folks run away from it? I think it is probably more to the point to ask why some folks run away from it, for increasingly people are apparently being hit with a blinding flash of the obvious. It works well, repeatedly and predictably. But what about the others? I think the answer lies in their perceived level of security. If they think their safe 'cause they have a lot of money, operate in a marginal un threatened area, or are just sort of "foolling around" then Open Space is a plaything to be used and put back on the shelf. On the otherhand folks who are at the edge of disaster or fantastic opportunity find the advantage (competitive and otherwise) of Open Space pretty hard to resist. Open space is only marginally about having better meetings. That will occur, but the real payoff is better organizations, and in fact an introduction to a better way to be in organization. I would even characterize it as a new organizational life form -- if that isn't too far off the wall. (Did I mix a metaphor?) Generally speaking the mode of organization experienced in Open Space may be characterized by five qualities 1) High Learning 2) High Play 3) Appropriate structure and control 4) Genuine community, and 5) the primacy of Spirit. High learning is what happens when differences (diversity) is maximized and appreciated, generating a synergy that throws the group into a new way of thinking about old issues. It doesn't fit the conventional wisdom, or way "we used to do thing" but whole new possibilities are opened up. High Play is really the concomitant of High Learning. When you are jumping paradigms, taking everything with dreadful seriousness can be a horrible drag. In fact High Learning with out High Play usually ends up in a cat fight with different folks taking and holding various doctrinaire positions. Why the play breaks out, I am not quite sure, but always seems to arrive. Appropriate structure and control is critical to keeping the whol,e thing together and moving. Very often newcomers to the world of Open Space seem to feel there is no structure (or control) It is certainly true that at the start there exists only a generral boundary and direction, but very quickly, structure happens and the folks who care take control. But both structure and control emerge out of the concerns of the people the naute of the task, and the conditions of the environment. None of it is laid on upfront or arbitrarily. Genuine Community seem to be an almost automatic outcome of qualities 1-3. When you are learning at high levels, playfully iin a structure and control environment which is appropriate to the people task, and environment, you almost cannot avoid a powerful sense of community. If nothing else it is fun.

Jottings from Practice of Peace Contexts of Open Space

For a couple of months I have been discussing a few terms with experts in Open Space. This is a sort of consensus paragraph we have reached: Open Space - gateway to real time, real place deep reflection, conversation and idea development (special thanks for editing help to Kelvie Comer) Open Space technology (http://www.openspaceworld.com, http://www.openspaceworld.org, http://www.openspaceworld.net, http://www.practiceofpeace.com ) permits every human to make the most of their time.

Systemically, Open Space is the simplest tool people will have for communally valuing the dynamics of Conflict, Change and Chaos. Each of these 3 C's is depressingly misunderstood whenever our human race forgets its essential collaborative spirit - what makes us better at value multiplying than those species we call animals. For example, when people come together in conflict, highly passionate perspectives may emerge with deep feelings. If these feelings can be resolved in a way that openly engages everyone in the prospects for a better future than the conflict ridden past, a valuable collaborative initiative is now started. Our current understanding of conflict is systemically immature both in commercial business contexts and human policy places and environments. Equally, if we can go openly beyond this barrier, the prospects for the human race's innovative diversity may become wonderful at every locality worldwide. I picture conflict as a gravity attracting huge passions and interests; its often been stirred up by a congregation of compounding winds of change (Chaos); Confusion (and its tragic partner destruction) is what happens if one person or one sectional interest tries to rule over this space and all the people passionately interdepending on communal human sense and hoped for progress. Openness and reconciliation of respect is the only pathway I can imagine truly leading out of descending into conflict's communal hell. (do you have a different picture? )

04.2 I have been apointed a spoke for http://www.collapsingworld.org in relation to its European network. If you are doing anything peacewise in Europe and want to know whether it connects with anything the 200 NGOs associated with http;//www.collapsingworld.org are doing, do email me at wcbn007@easynet.co.uk. I will try to ask around

BBC, Fame & starting the University of the Stars(Replies: 0, Read: 143)
From:
Chris Macrae
Attachments: (No. of attachments - 1)
335 k
bbcoct.doc
No reply yet from Broadcasting House but the rest of the worldwide response to this concept has been the most cheering corespondence of my year (27-Nov-03)
This is the open letter to the BBC around which the concept of University of the Stars has emerged into a network of interest
05-Jan-04 (GMT)
Subject:
good news from open space in Nigeria(Replies: 1, Read: 190)
-->
From: Joel Bisina [mailto:nigrodev2000@yahoo.co.uk] Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2004 11:41 AM Subject: Use of Open Space Technology in Nigeria Mediation Subject: Mediation In Ongoing Crisis Between Ijaws And Itsekiris Of Warri Delta State Nigeria. Dear Members Of POP and SW Global Community. I an glad to inform you all of a successful first phase mediation on the Seven (7) Years old intractable conflict between the Ijaws and The Itsekiris, two ethnic nationalities in the oil rich Niger Delta Region. This is a conflict that has claimed well over 2,000 lives and rendered more than 10,000 people homeless, as well as destroying millions of dollars worth of property. I am especially interested in telling you about how I was able to use what I learned at Practice of Peace and Spirited Work to effect a positive outcome. My non-profit organization, NIDPRODEV (Niger-Delta Professionals for Development) in collaboration with IFESH (International Foundation for Education and Self Help) sponsored a multi-level mediation workshop from 14th to 17th and 18th to 21st of December, 2003. In this first phase, we met separately with Ijaws and the Itsekiris, targeting the leaders of the combatant groups on both sides. The initial focus of this intervention was to obtain a ceasefire amongst the two warring groups and also to facilitate them to explore other creative means of addressing the issues rather than resorting to violence. The member of your global community Joel Bisina led the mediation, and I am glad to inform you that the program recorded a high level of success. Not only did each group denounce violence as an option for getting their needs met, they also pledged to collaborate with each other to co-creatively find a solution to the problem. Both sides have had follow-up meetings with their various groups and have resolved as a next step to engage in a more constructive joint session. My participation at POP and SW was instrumental to the success recorded . I designed the mediation to use several strategies I learned, including OPENSPACE TECHNOLOGY, as well as THE REFLECTIVE OPENING AND CLOSING CIRCLES. However, it is worthy of note to mention that when we started the session, I saw that the participants were very agitated, and unable to focus on moving forward in a collaborative way. I remembered my participation at the session convened on COMPASSIONATE LISTENING convened by Leah Green and her team and decided to try that approach. It was of immense benefit, as the participants for the first time felt listened to and had the opportunity to listen to each other's side of the story. The openspace technology was very helpful as it enabled me to open up space and hold the space while the participants took responsibility for their actions and their issues. This was needed to vent tension and anger. And it created BROTHERHOOD. Some of the results of this intervention included Ø Change in perception Ø A resolution that violence does not pay any one Ø A resolve to collaborate for joint problem solving Ø A commitment to continue to work amongst ethnic groups to hold the space for the peace while the issues are being addressed It is of further interest to mention here that I was invited to observe a similar initiative that is being facilitated by an NGO run by an American woman here which is aimed at the elders, community leaders, and government security agents. Unfortunately, this session ended in a deadlock. It was clear the facilitator was not familiar with Open Space Technology, Compassionate Listening, or the other techniques I was exposed to at POP and SW. The facilitator also observed my mediation sessions, and I am glad to inform you that she has approached me to help out and teach her some of these skills. Both of these initiatives are supported financially by USAID/The US Embassy here in Nigeria. I will let you know of the outcome of the joint session between the Ijaws and Itsekiris coming up the second week of January 2004. Read and let me know what you feel . Joel Bisina

question to 21st C : will those at the top of the globe always leave the peoples to suffer all the troubles first?

The death of distance future history we wrote in 1984 (the final book of a trilogy whose first 2 episodes were published as surveys in The Economist 1976 1982 ) predicted the next decade would revolve round reconciling this risk. In a networked age the people at the top are not as smart as connecting what we could all observe, question, collectively knowledge work around.

If this decade 2000-2010 fails in this globalisation reconciliation, 1 we will have failed our children's generation and started mankind's destruction of the earth. Call that the George Orwell scenario or which ever scifi apocalypse tomorrow you have had the closets encounter with. If however we succeed in mapping a way through so that the top listen to the people and use media to ask the next big questions rather than to image over reality, then we forecast that the 21st C will be the age when humankind finally grows up in the greatest collaboration and civilisation imaginable.

OUR MISSIONS at MACRAE.NETS

WE will keep circulating our scripts on Death of Distance and Entrepreneurial Revolution for Open Debate wherever people sources linkin or netizens co-blog A B C D

We will develop a website valuetrue.com where all transparency communities are invited to map out hi-trust relationships and transparencies between the boundaries of one place and another, or one competitive corporation and another, or one management profession and another. We will update any trouble stories that appear in the hope that out of conflicts pattern rules higher order harmony can be facilitated. This reflects the number 1 learning about innovation and peace of open space in its first 50000 rehearsals that Harrison Owen's worldwide alumni began about the same time as we started issuing earth of distance debating scripts. May all your good's love unite around large scale people meetings wherever the souls and spirits are trying their best to love one another.

---

valuetrue - a cross-sectional sample or troubles- March 2006
March 06 - ClubofPakistan continues to search through how the world could help with people's desperate needs; we hear a lot from Spiral Dynamists and Integral System theorists but clearly their roadshow in Denmark a few years back didn't nurture enough worldwide understanding among the media and cartoon communities; system mapmakers have no business to offer methods that do not open up interfaces with other system methods in cross-cultural ways; we applaud Brainjams for its intent to move its open space roadshow on the deepest possibilities of silicon valley and web2.1 to disadvantaged cities, New Orleans next stop; Oh Paris you are the love and terror of my life and Brussel Sprouts are the one food whose knowledge you are the worst in the world maitre D'

OPEN SPACE RACES
FRAP! & globalcharters: we are starting to map the who's concerned who of waves all over the world - clean energy, education, knowledge, brand
August 05 - Sarajevo's story from Paul -Thank you. I have been here for three days. It is one of the most intense places I have ever been. Sarajevo is itself exquisitely beautiful, with architecture dating from the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires while at the same time everywhere the scars of war are evident. Also, everyone has a story of pain. Together, it is almost too much to bear. The task of reconciliation is certainly a massive one!

Appreciating other's places

---

How we announced MyWorldAtlas to The Open Space Community whose shared listserve is as inquisitive for humanity's sake as any yet known to valuetrue transparency communities and ASIN emerging at BBCican.

I have been piloting this systemic construct's components for quite a long while now, and feel confident enough to expose it to your advice. Doubtless it needs huge improvement. I have long believed an open networking world needs a whole new atlas to take economics above zero-sum extraction - our dream journey begins at global university with helping people to develop a different map for every humanitarian agenda that replicates globally but requires active resolution locally. Oddly, as I begin to network professionally with sustainabilty investment analysts - defined to be those whose prime concern is mathematically quantifying future exponentials - I believe that service and knowledge community businesses could learn from this paradigm too. See through maps of how key relationships of productivities and demands win-win-win make a company's most attractive (unique founding) purpose sustainable if it a company is prepared to make its reputation an open gateway to better futures for as many people as possible (an old fashion view of why people commit working lives to organisation). This seems to be acutely true in transformation contexts needing appreciation of Harrison's Triple-C : Conflict-Chaos-Confusion template for reconciliation. The first component of MyWorldAtlas is literally to issue an invitation to a person or people in a network who appear to have a common gravity that I would hope to mutually multiply trust around. In issuing such invitations, its often unclear who needs to co-mentor who first- that is part of the exploration permit or open space dialogue. I am sure, since Open Spaces are the greatest invitation gatherings around, you could edit a better invitation but the one our (1) MyWorldAtlas network uses currently is approximately this Typical Co-Navigation Opening Offer Between Deep Context MyWorldAtlas Cartographers The more I read of your ideas and concerns , the more I would like to work as virtual partners on a deep joint project By a deep issue context I mean: any one that you will be passionate about over the next 7 years and need some joint open searching, linking, promotion, facilitation, action project prooftesting and global replication. I don't particularly mind whether a nomination is commercial or wholly humanitarian as long as it does not close off collaborative learnings and transparency work I try to do with many others and other networks. The bigger the challenge the better as long as you know some of your time/passion will compound around its action learning curve. I have been piloting a rough idea which I call MyWorldAtlas that I can illustrate better to show how to iteratively connect around a context, but I would need to hear or rehearse with you what the deepest context you are interested in from where you observe and experience life and sustainable value development. One reason why big actually helps me is that I mail coordinators of powerful networks with expressions of interest of people I link with giving them a menu which test out whether their network is actually up for action. One example of a target I want to test over the next 6 weeks is (3) clintonglobalinitiative.com - I get to hear of a new one of these almost monthly, and whilst I expect 11 out of 12 won't listen, (4) At Interlocal I later publish the gist of the letters I wrote and so discover who is prepared to work all the way with the people everyplace and who is just in a summit world of their own kind any players? chris macrae , wcbn007@easynet.co.uk - London & Washington DC, Project30000

Our official journalist biographer of Transparency Mapping's first 5 years of learning from all our communal members has just sent me a complete draft of chapters.

If you want to peak at some, say which

1 Intro 235k

2 Maps & Mapping 646k

3 The Secret of Mediocrity 219k

4 Millennium Bug 76k

5 Dog that didn't bark 638k

6 Mind Forged Manacles 838k

7 Building momentum 712k

8 Some outline maps 855k

We ask that however short, you post a comment back to us after reading any chapter. Your comments will not be named anywhere unless we receive your permission

email chris macrae

---

Can we simultaneously learn from New Orleans, 77/7, Tsunami, 9/11...? We profile New Orleans here because it may have the most learning loops all the way down from superpower to communities whose fragility may be cause by nature's extremities on man's more selfish divides compounded over many periods of government. In most situations, we have local disaster clubs continuing action learning and regeneration from their epicentre of crisis- ask wcbn007@easynet.co.uk if you want or can help guiding transparent learning from these situations. Thanks

Exploring New Orleans Future : Doublequotes is full of tense clues

---

Sep 16, 2005 — President Bush said Friday that the Gulf Coast must be rebuilt with an eye toward wiping out the persistent poverty and racial injustice plain to all in the suffering of the black and the poor in Hurricane Katrina's wake.

"As we clear away the debris of a hurricane, let us also clear away the legacy of inequality," Bush said during a national prayer service with other political leaders and religious figures from the affected region at the National Cathedral."

Also Friday, White House officials said that taxpayers will pay the bill for the massive reconstruction program for the hurricane ravaged-Gulf Coast and that the huge expense will worsen the nation's budget deficit.

Before Bush's remarks, Bishop T.D. Jakes, head of 30,000-member Potter's House church in Dallas, delivered a powerful sermon in which he called upon Americans to "dare to discuss the unmentionable issues that confront us" and to not rest until the poor are raised to an acceptable living standard.

"Katrina, perhaps, she has done something to this nation that needed to be done," Jakes said. "We can no longer be a nation that overlooks the poor and the suffering, that continues past the ghetto on our way to the Mardi Gras."

Bush, faced with continuing questions about whether help would have been sent more quickly to the storm zone if most victims had not been poor and black, echoed those themes in his brief remarks.

"Some of the greatest hardships fell upon citizens already facing lives of struggle, the elderly, the vulnerable and the poor," he said. "As we rebuild homes and businesses, we will renew our promise as a land of equality and decency and one day Americans will look back at the response to Hurricane Katrina and say that our country grew not only in prosperity but in character and justice."

vt says- lets make as start with some Washington DC cafe circles (and share ideas across other cities like London &...) discussing these intents and also survey what are the most valued humanity networks that invite volunteers to activate thier joint concerns

---

Top Billing for Grassroots Testimonies eg this - please email wcbn007@easynet.co.uk others of similar depth or diversity

---

The Washington Post of Sept 11 carried a complete calendar of breakdowns between all major organisations in the first 2 weeks of Katrina's disaster. Even more clearly than the tragedy 4 years earlier, this shows how the prosperity of human beings everywhere is declining unless we can learn to value transparency as the new vital dynamic of our networked globe and communities everywhere.

---

valuationUSA
What if we explore governing America transparently: as a network of states where people's cultures flourish- we feel that a more human way can be found of sustaining states like Louisiana and cities like New Orleans than today's short-term power-brokering. We have a dream perhaps, but backed up by networking economics we began work on in 1984 that cherishes community-up transparency and enabling people to make a difference and seeks to resolve conflicts of sustainability systemically ahead of time. If this might be a discussion group you want to be in join our egroup valuationUSA here.

---

In our networked worlds and interlinking economies & societies 1 2 3 4 5, over-reliance on one system’s command and controls is every being’s greatest risk.

What do New York, New Orleans, Phuket Island, London, Baghdad & Various African States have in common? Were they one-offs or will their compound root causes recur in other cities (or geographically people-tied places)?

Quite simply, we can see that all these geographies of citizen networks (aka societies) were devastated by terrifying acts of man or nature. Some unprepared for a single destructive stroke, many degraded by compounding distrust or short-term monetisation.

Analyse these system crises more deeply for common patterns - and warn yourself by asking would you want your family's future to rely solely on 20th C -pre-networked, pre-global&local - ideologies like these:

National governance – much more local contextual resilience is needed

Nightline, ABC Sept 1: To hear federal & local authorities discuss the plight of New Orleans today is to know that one is seriously out of touch or incapable of confronting the truth

Left versus right short-term constitutions of voting and mass media soundbiting – investment decisions that truly could have saved or ameliorated situations were long-term, structural ; not just about money but deeper human relations investments such as trust in human cooperation, open spaces and learning curves of social capital, cultural harmony and trust as money.

Valuing global corporations' future impacts separately from local societies- any state that perpetuates this governance error will depressingly make globalisation less & less human

Blocking Interlocal exchanges of learning across networks that go beyond national or other geographical boundaries- for example, as human beings are composed mainly of water, we should demand education about whole system learnings to do with water and climate ecologies. Make sure these go beyond nations and other geographical boundaries-indeed when a network of systems times systems sustains the overall value or health being compounded over time, boundary separation is like any other apartheid the area of greatest human risk.

Ignoring nature's cultural order: healthy society is a necessary condition for compounding strong economic growth and sustaining learning cultures, not vice versa

Utellus other learnings from these or other world’s citizens most urgent concerns for humanity

Open Networks that can help share pattern rules of World Citizen Simultaneity include:

Simpol ...1

Global Reconciliation Network...1

Open Space Alumni

Life Synthesis- Photosynthesis Energy Inventor Network

Verna Allee's Expert Alumni of Value Exchange Theory -one of the core advances in valuation/network economics understanding around which all valuetrue cartography and compound risk reduction auditing is based

Tomorrows Global Company

Royal Society of Arts cafe propagating dialogues -most current being : Global Citizenry & Sustainability

European Knowledge Management Survey openly sponsored by Emotional Intelligence Networks on the 5 productive multiplying systems of the companies that are best for sustaining the world and human trust-flows
Utellus of other networks or ask for guiding links around the networks tables

Utellus of summits where top people most need to include the systemic patterning intelligence in their action planning or media informing

September 05

Clinton’s Global Initiative

Tomorrow Global Company’s Wilton Park & Global Compact Networking

---

Citizens testimonies worldwide -Utellus who to feature

---

1 Sept 2005- UK Channel 4 Snowmail:

New Orleans: Anarchy hits US storm relief
==============================

The news out of New Orleans is getting harder to believe every hour. The world's only superpower seems to have lost control of the situation. Thousands of people are still stranded without food, water or medicine. Tens of thousands more homeless.

Lawlessness is spreading around the city with police and national guard trying to control things but ambulances and rescue helicopters have been shot at by armed thugs. Those stranded at centres like the sports stadium are in appalling conditions with grim sanitation and supplies. There are attempts to get a few thousand people a day out of the city as the Mayor has ordered the forced evacuation of everyone, but it is pitifully slow and the people have little or nothing to go to. As for the bodies - there is still no reliable estimate of those dead. But now the Mayor and a senator have put it in the thousands.

People are starting to ask whether or not the warning and evacuation was mishandled. If people are being forced to leave now then why not at the weekend before Katrina struck? And there are increasing voices emerging about the warnings that were ignored.

Federal funds were denied to strengthen the levees. Was America so obsessed with fighting terror that it forgot what homeland security really means? And does the demographic breakdown of those worst hit - predominantly poor and black have anything to do with how little was done to help them?

It is worth noting that George Bush's new chief of Homeland Security was out launching September as National Preparedness Month. You couldn't make it up. --------------------
Sept 1 New Orleans mayor speaking on radio: I've spoken to them all from George Bush down. I keep hearing help is coming- this is BullShit man, I ask where’s the beef? We need Greyhound Buses form everywhere, they offer a few school buses. There's too much small thinking- I am saying this may the biggest catastrophe ever seen in a modern American city. Let me tell you there is one John Wayne character I trust a General Honore. He's the one gift the nation's top has sent us. I want him to have all the operating authority, then we could perhaps save some people.

---

How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive

"It is seldom, in the modern day, that one comes across a book with an impact like 'Collapse - how societies choose to fail or survive', by Jared Diamond (an Allen Lane imprint of Penguin books, 2005. HBK ISBN 0-713-99286-7; PBK ISBN 0-713-99862-8). Diamond combines the most rigorous research with a light and engaging writing style that turns this potentially weighty topic into an informative and delightful read. He charts the lessons of past societies such as those of the Easter, Pitcairn and Henderson Islands, the Maya, the Vikings in Greenland, and Papua New Guinea. He contrasts these with modern experiences in Montana (USA), Rwanda, Haiti, China, and Australia. Diamond then provides a compelling synthesis and puts forward practical suggestions as to what governments, corporations and individuals can do to learn from the past and thereby endeavour to secure the best possible future for our world. I thoroughly recommend this book as a thought-provoking read".

William GORDON, co-author of Brand Manners (John Wiley, 2001)

---

Tales of 2 Cities

New Orleans News Wires (Several links require free registration to Boston Globe) Katrina's death toll will be way above 9/11 Sept 2 CNN news : Unconfirmed 100 perish in one place while 1500 wait to be bussed-Governor of Louisiana broadcasts today's biggest question: what can we do when network of civilisation falls apart? Journalists report reaching places days before National Guards, Red Cross & Other Resources on US Homeland Security. Convention centre testimony: there is genocide going on around here. Journalist: authorities are using responses designed for the aftermath of a terrorism attack and finding that response needed to a natural catastrophe is wholly different. From catastrophe to chaos: Gunfire, corpses left in the open, and a slow exodus out Analysis: Politicians failed storm victims Katrina will have broad economic reach Foreign governments line up to help after Katrina Miss. struggles to deal with dead bodies New Orleans doctors plead for help Congress to vote on $10B Katrina package Americans open homes to refugees Senate approves $10.5B in hurricane aid Gasoline supplies tighten, prices rise Fats Domino apparently rescued by boat Sewage in floodwaters carries disease From web report of B Kirkman:issues that led to the tragedy in New Orleans will become apparent: 1. After 9/11 the Federal Emergency Management Agency shifted from 75% of its efforts being focused on natural disaster planning, preparation and drills to 75% being terrorism event reaction grants administration and terrorism event planning and preparation. Despite what one might think, there is little overlap between the two kinds of events. There has been a major departure of experienced FEMA managers with knowledge in natural disasters due to the focus on terrorism, and their replacement by terrorism experts. 2. All across the US there is a terrible lack of coordination in issues related to flood control projects between the Federal, state and local government. There is also a lack of coordination between the construction of projects and their day-to-day operational management. In particular, in Louisiana is up to local officials to decide if volunteers will be recruited to stay in flood control stations when major storms approach, at the risk of of the volunteers dying if the stations are destroyed. New Orleans did not ask for such volunteers. Adjoining suburban areas did. The volunteers in adjoining areas were able to activate back-up generators and keep pumps working that helped to avoid catastrophic flooding in the suburbs. In New Orleans the stations were unmanned. The power went out -> the pumps went off ... 3. There had been proposals for over 20 years to build stronger flood control stations and barriers in the New Orleans area. It was not supported by short-term taxation logics. 4. The evacuation plans were all designed on individuals and families driving their own cars out of New Orleans. No consideration was made for the approximately 20% of the city that was dependent on public transportation. No one with knowledge of public transportation usage was involved in designing the evacuation plan until it was very late.

London Former teaching assistant turned bomber slaps the policy of British Prime Minister Edgware bomber kills marketing genius who tried to save the world 1 London becomes test case for future of all open multicultural cities Discuss RSA Speaker's Papers: Sustainability - Discussion Global Citizen - Discussion Restore every person's voice to World's Largest Public Broadcaster

---

In 2002, The New Orleans Times featured a 5-part award winning series written by John McQuaid & other journalists: Surging water is a huge threat to New Orleans. The Red Cross says that there will be a very high death toll if a levee breaks unless all citizens are evacuated in time- something more than likely if a category 4 hurricane hits New Orleans directly. Update CNN Sept 2 interview with McQuaid: the response we needed to this problem requires sustained attention and investment from every level of authority. Clearly that response was not achieved within the 3 years since this report.

UK Channel 4 Sept 5: This is the biggest displacement of people since the American Civil War and it must have political consequences as the people are being scattered across the US.

US Washington Post: Sept 8 - Leaders Lacking Disaster Experience- how FEMA's top became jobs for the boys