Minutes of the Board Meeting of OSI (USA) held on November 25, 2005.
Participants: Doug Germann, Karen Davis, Kerry Napuk, Tree Fitzgerald, Peggy Holman, Lisa Heft and John Engle (baby due February)
Apologies: Michael Herman, Gabriel Shirley and Mikk Sarv
Minutes by, Kerry Napuk, and comments welcomed and should be sent to John Engle mailto:john@johnengle.net
Peggy rang the gong and two minutes of silence followed before the meeting started.
OsonOS? US
Doug reported on the gathering in San Antonio of 12 participants who posted 10 topics on Day One and 8 on Day Two. Proceedings can be found on http//:tinyurl.com/a4xfs. Doug posted a question, if participants had $750,what would they do with it to open more space in the US? The most interesting idea was to provide a summary resource book compiled from various sources, such as HO’s Handbook, Peggy’s chapters, etc., made available to people who could not afford a facilitator or needed to open space where they were.
Heart and Meaning for Board Members?
Peggy felt we had not looked at this for a long time and now would be appropriate to see where the energy was on the OSI Board.
In order to capture the flavour of this important dialogue, the minutes will attempt to convey the impression of what participants said in the order they said it:
1. Doug discussed the idea of opening more space in the US with an electronic summary book on how to open space in different languages, a small booklet to get people started. Lisa felt this should be a future item on the agenda.
2. Peggy asked members to reflect on the question of heart and meaning.
3. Kerry asked if a more relevant question was what was the Board’s purpose and where did it want to go collectively? Peggy felt this would emerge when members addressed heart and meaning.
4. Kerry tried to address this by stating that OSI ought to hold the space open and serve the Community by making things happen.
5. Peggy believed that holding space open created a better world, especially when you take responsibility for what you love and make it accessible, e.g. the monthly Stammtisch(s) which are spreading around the world and other small things that raise awareness.
6. Karen reflected on the O.S. world, how to connect Institutes and how they can relate to each other around the world. Kerry mentioned how impressed Brian Bainbridge was at Halifax to hear how much was happening around the world in the session on O.S. Institutes during the last day.
7. John said a 2.5 day PoP? is being planned for Haiti in 2007 to bring people together to reconcile different views on achieving justice and peace in that troubled land, which, hopefully, will lead to a package for other groups.
8. Kerry told about the Scottish Minister who participated in a multi cultural event in Leith on “is anybody listening?,” reshaping his view of central government on multi-culturalism. Kerry remarked that stories of O.S. in communities and with spiritual dimension do not appear anywhere. Should we create a wiki wiki site for them?
9. Peggy felt the bar was being raised in O.S. practice.
10. Tree sensed an urgency that the world needs more space opened, which is why she has chosen to contribute to the Board.
11. Lisa welcomed a “woven world,” linking interesting people and places through opening space around the globe and learning from different experiences. She hopes to offer her source book as an e-book. Lisa was very excited about the work in Iraq to create a Peacebuilders Network and John’s work in Haiti.
12. Peggy mentioned that Tova did participate in the tent on the Israeli/Gaza? Border which attracted several hundred people before funding was exhausted and might have served as a safety valve to the tensions when settlers withdrew – another fascinating story of open space in a community and the PoP?. Hopefully, Tova will write this story.
13. Peggy told the Board about the South Korean journalist who created OhMyNews? for ordinary people to contribute their stories and be paid based on how many people read (clicked on) them. Please visit OMNI’s web site: http://english.ohmynews.com. She asked if O.S. stories could have such visibility?
14. So Kerry asked how can we get great O.S. stories out? Can we create a place where people will want to post stories {and others will want to visit and read!}
15. Peggy asked how can we create an O.S. stories network. What would be a simple way to do this?
16. John felt it would take management time and might be financed through advertisements.
17. Peggy would send everyone an article on OhMyNews? and might facilitate an event with 400 contributors in Korea.
ACTION: Board members consider simple ways to make great O.S. stories visible. Make this the top priority for discussion at the next Board meeting.
BIN for Next Time:
1. How make O.S. stories visible (All) 2. Webspace and Service Market (Michael, John) 3. Summary practice booklet (Doug, Lisa?)
Next Meeting:
Friday, December 30, 2005 at 1100 PST and 1900 GMT.