CPsquare

Went to a meeting on June 13th, at the Treehouse in Amsterdam for an Open Space formatted meeting with members and non-members of CPsquare. It was sort of a preparatory day for the infonortics conference on virtual communities in The Hague. A number of the people presenting there were present.

Rough unedited notes from the meeting:

Participants:
* I'm adding web-pages as I discover them -- LiliaEfimova
* Beverly Trayner - http://btrayner.info/∞
* John Smith - http://www.learningalliances.net/∞

Introductions:

Nancy White, consults NGO's on communities (maybe I should point Olaf Brugman to her blog)
John Smith, mentioned a community on tuberculosis. Triggered thoughts about Miguel Cornejo's experience with the community for AIDS-patients, families, doctors, organisations etc. (See notes workshop Octobre 2003, Brussels, KM for NGO's)
Alasdair: background in healthcare, mentioned wellbeing (pick up on in blogpost about wealth, Riverside conversations, well being I wrote in the train getting here)

Questions/Topics/Quotes First Session:
How to make our practice visible? (John)
It takes an early adopter to get from first use to sophistication. Second wave members won't bother doing that. (Nancy)
Global versus Sequential thinking (Nancy)
Foxes versus Hedgehogs (Joe)

Sources of identity (group- self-constructed)
Blurring of lines between self and groupidentity (unable to credit sources of ideas, or claim it as own)

Lilia: cloud of thoughts/foxes, need for one tool. One topic/thought / hedgehogs, space for multiple tools

Lunch

Passion is at the core of a community, binds it together.

Path of discussion in first session, as summarized by Joe: fora vs. weblogs, modalities of readers, modalities of authors, kind of people who are authors.

Stories of failure as a indication/source for possible new communities. Success stories as source of continuity for a community.

Picture of diver looking at what's under the sea, and speeding over the bridge.

Closed and open communities: with closed ones, is energy wasted on maintaining the division?

Pete: Maori's have been in NZ for 900yrs, coming from polynesia. Aboriginals in Aus for 40k yrs, first migrating down via Indonesian archipelago and Irian Jaya.

Second session

CP Square Conference (John)
CP2 was started in Jan 03 by EtienneWenger. He wrote a paper, containing a 10 yr research agenda. (find it on Etiennes Website - http://www.ewenger.com/research/researchsummary.htm∞ )
On line conference is now held on this paper. Divided into 5 chapters, one week per chapter. Additional telephone conferences.
Opening the conference up to guests: enriching the conference.

Telephoneconference: lesson: how to use these events.
Everything on the 'same table' or having side-tables / backchanneling for moderation/politics
IM used for notetaking

Holding speeches, leaving out words starting with certain letters as improv game.

Final groupdiscussion
Communities vs./and/or/ networks (Erik)
Weblogs vs/with CoPs. Perceived as threat/opportunity

Joe: Not useful to ask whether a community is a community but asking what's missing/can be improved on where you are now.

Purpose and goals as something a community needs, a network needs not. A.S. as an example that's a network, not a community (yet?)

Storytelling as a community creating tool: compare Ius Sanctus where we have been telling stories so often that we actually believe we were all there, where in fact only part of us were even members when it happened.

Pain and discomfort in communities as (personal) growth impuls. Barriers/constraints as catalyst for creativity.

Interruption game as Improv game (Alasdair)
Three words improv game.

Setubal meeting: everybody thought the others were the incrowd. (Was a f2f CP Square meeting)

Peripheral participation is what blogs do extremely well (Joe)
Strengthening, growing through resonance, (John and Nancy talking to a prospect together) Compare first and second round of strategy design excercise for the Iraq campaign: first round 7 out of 100 points, after reading one other 75 to 80 of a 100 relevant points)

How are we going to apply what we've learned (Erik: will phone several of us)

Illogical switches, side way moves in career. Open and trusting behaviour. I see it in all these meetings: looks like we are early adopters, but of what? What are we a tribe of? Moving towards individual and network/communities as the relevant entities vs. organisations/corporate structures (compare Andy saying communities were the one constant factor in Shell reorganisations, is that implicit acknowledgement that informal human structures are more basic/durable/sustainable?)

Abelene will report in the Danish press. Try get clippings online.

Joe: to find the interesting research topics look at what excites people, and what pisses them of.

Round of acknowledgements last: John taped it, ask for soundfiles.

Other notes
* Summary by Lilia - http://blog.mathemagenic.com/2004/06/14.html#a1241∞
* Lilia on cycling vs. diving - http://blog.mathemagenic.com/2004/06/14.html#a1242∞