2009.11.24 14:00 Working Group Meeting

Eliza proposes the following agenda:

        0) Email

            Working Group email discussion was spare this week, with
            regard to implementations and suggestions. There were clarifications
            with regard to fundraising, to visit at item three. Also, the issue of
            Vice-Chair has been moved off of the agenda for now.

        1) Chat Log Annotation

            The PlayasBeing group has decided against labeling the chat logs in
            an automated way, and has moved toward individual guardian detail,
            such as Stevenaia's suggestion of writing:

            "The Guardian (on Call) for this meeting was stevenaia Michinaga.
             The comments are by stevenaia Michinaga.....The following Guardians
             were in attendance for this session:  Pema Pera, stevenaia Michinaga,
             etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, "  

             Do we want to list all guardians at the top of each chat log page,
             as Stevenaia suggested, and some others agreed with, or not, since
             yet some others were unhappy with it? 

        2) Review of Group Discussion Last Week

            In an email to the PlayasBeing group, Adams wrote: "The potential danger I
            am seeing is a bit subtle. If the working group keeps framing problems and
            offering "suggestions" might it  tend to cause division and adverse reaction to
            the "suggestions"? Then will we need long emails to explain the problem
            that the working group saw? Maybe PaB would work better the other way
            around. Let the problems that require a group solution be defined in the
            gaurdians meetings along with a discussion of possible solutions there."  
  
            A. What would be the potential benefits and drawbacks of this kind of
            shift, toward the guardian meetings becoming the 'defining ground' for
            problems which may arise?
          
            B. Are there ways to address these kinds of concerns regarding the Working
            Group and email discussions which are seen by some as potentially divisive?
            

       3) Fundraising and Donations Listing

           The general consensus of the PlayasBeing group members who have replied
           via email, is that the European model of not listing individual donors with specific
           monetary amounts given toward the PlayasBeing community is the preferable
           way to handle fundraising.
          
           Widget wrote "A periodic list of names - without metrics - of folks who are putting
           energy into the system - time, treasure, talent - serves mainly to make the community
           more visible to itself. It also values people's time and talent equally with their treasure,
           which serves to reinforce the impulse to participate."

           
      4) New Guardians

            We have had no objections to the three proposed guardian candidates.
            A. Shall we now invite them?
            B. What about mentoring? Until we have a specific mentoring policy in place,
                is there someone we might ask to contact these new guardians to answer
                questions that may arise, to and give an overview?

      5) Different Kinds of Sessions/ Emphasizing "Pure Play as Being/Applied PlayasBeing"
           
            A. Growing out of discussions within our weekly guardian meetings, Storm has brought
            forth the idea of having different kinds of sessions. In a recent email, Storm wrote:
            "Maxine has commented occasionally on boundary issues. I see the possibility of
            having more than one kind of session as a potential solution to all sorts of seemingly
            disparate problems we are having, many of which include boundary issues."

               Some of the kinds of sessions which have been discussed are:
              
               1) "pure PaB": the practice of PaB itself
               2) "applied PaB" how practice of PaB influences our life
               3) newcomer/Introductory sessions
               3) pure contemplation and spirituality
               4) applied spirituality in politics, economics, society
               5) unrecorded sessions, such as those Adams, Gaya, Eos, and Eliza
                   have organized 
             
             The suggested focus is toward 1 and 2, for regular PaB sessions. Do we have specific
             ideas we might try out or discuss within the larger PlayasBeing group?  Further thoughts
             or frameworks we might discuss?

        6) PaB Village

              Are there any suggestions for new events and/or structures in the
              PaB Village, perhaps in relation to in-world retreats?

        7) Coordinator as Role Name

              The six WG members play a role as coordinators, yet they also
              delegate some of their responsibilities to other coordinators
              outside the group; would it be more clear if the WG members 
              would be given another role name, different from "coordinator"?

        8) Outreach: Community Gateway

             We may want to consider offering PaB as one of the groups that 
             newbies can turn to during their initial orientation.