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.