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.

      Pema wrote "So concretely:

      by March 1 we will need a volunteer
      to be vice chair for one month, and then take over
      from me on April 1 to become the new chair for the
      next three months."

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 is preferable to listing amounts publicly.

          A. is everything firmly in place, so that we can ask people now to
              give donations, whether they have pledged money already or not?
              Can we give them clear instructions where/how to donate money?
              Who will send out a notice describing that?  The note should
              probably ask to include either SL name or "anonymous"; see also:

          B. do we have a clear system to register automatically who gave money;
              does PayPal address that?  If somebody just pays through PayPal with
              their RL name, we may have no clue which avatar corresponds to that.

          C. shall we make a final recommendation of exactly how to list time and
              money donations on a PaB web site, taking into account all the
              reactions we've gotten so far?

 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.

     B. 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.