2011.02.15 Working Group Meeting

Proposed Agenda

1) Email discussions, convergences

2) Art as Being Self

3) SL Retreat

4) Possible topic... from the Feb 13th guardian meeting -

Lucinda Lavender: I get the feeling that pab is thriving...

5) ?

Guardian Meeting Minutes February 15, 2011

Attending : Eos, Aphrodite, Bruce, Storm, Calvino and Hana

1. Email discussions, convergences

Fund raising:

We're doing reasonably well on donations, thanks to Aph for initiative. We will come in at around $550 (for the quarter. Aphrodite Macbain: there were some suggestions by the Guardians to demonstrate how we are doing in the fund raising using a thermometer or hourglass. Calvino suggested something that is an interesting graphic, artfully showing the donation status in some way. Like an hourglass that gets tured upside down every 3 months, tapping a data feed about the current figures to make it seem "real time"? or an artistic sculpture with no words avoiding mental chatter. it was suggested putting this image in the pub and dome as well. Storm kindly agreed to work on creating something.
 

Guardian meeting: Feb 13

Meeting was fun and creative. Kit was able to attend. Everyone went to the pub.  See chat log at http://wiki.playasbeing.org/Guardian_Pages/Working_Group/2011_Working_Group/2011.02.15_Working_Group_Meeting
 

2. Art of being Self

It was agreed that the 2-month project was powerful for a lot of people although Aph was confused about the protocol for the opening event: i.e is there always a presentation by each contributor? She will ask Bleu.
 

3. Should there be more faciliatation in PaB activities?

This subject came up regarding some of PaBs events such as....

4. The recent SL Retreat

Bruce Mowbray reported that there was INDEED a retreat, that ten of them attended every session, that there was no facilitator and that it was self organized, (Cal thinks "self organizing" takes a certain amount of brain power for everyone there) and that there were various experiences had. It was suggested that some opportunity should be taken to review and collect the learning from it. Each of the six sessions had a flavor of its own and there was also a certain amount of surrendering of "self".  They worked together  like a "group dance" and there was "some uncomfortable blend of together and separate."

Retreat theme session

Eos suggested we organize a theme session on the retreat. If you have some specific questions about the retreat. . . but do not wish to breach confidence of anyone who attended, is understood. Aphrodite said she learned very little at the last theme session on the retreat and found it rather vague which might simply be a characteristic of reports on retreats.
 

Time zone issues

In the future, folks might want to have two retreats -- for those in time zones on opposite sides of the planet. perhaps occidental, oriental dual retreats. Eos mentioned that for short retreats you can actually do around the clock while  longer ones require us to make lifestyle changes such as unplugging all rl phones. It is part of the "container" for the retreat, making an environment that is *different. It is one of the advantages of the retreat. It's not a retreat if it is dominated by everyday habits. However, the down side of specialness is that it creates "re-entry artifact."  .

Re-entry or transition back to RL or "Please do not kill the villagers."
This needs to be further considered and discussed. Storm believes re-entry is fairly easy to address. The main problem is that the same techniques don't always work for everyone. Advice about transitions would be good to provide.We need to find out more about how Storm suggests this can happen.   What happens when the boundaries are removed? It was recommended that this shold be discussed at the beginning of each retreat. Calvino Rabeni: "if you were there for the end of the last session, you'd see the "real" retreat starting to happen just as the scheduled retreat ended." Perhaps the retreats need to be longer in that case. It was suggested that 3 days is much more effective than 2
 

Importance of a balance of retreats and RL activity in one's life: Could we say this is the purpose of retreats?

"Regularly disconnecting from the world of work and the mind of productivity and going into spirit and community." (Cal)

Importance of well communicated retreat guidelines

Bruce reported that Sun made it to every session and stayed through all of them. Somehow Sunshine was invited to the retreat, even though not a guardian, contradicting one expectation (and it worked out ok) However she invited a lonely straggler to drop in, which to Cal indicated she didn't "get" the notion of a retreat. The fact that Sun did not know the guidelines for SL retreats made us realize that we need to communicate more effectively regarding retreats and perhaps not discuss them at the pavilion where there are non guardians present. 

It was agreed that it might be helpful for Guardians to know patterns and best practices in order to create an awareness of the practice.  Some form of initiation process might work for new Guardians. It should be communicated in the guardian emails only and not at the Pavilion.

Aphrodite Macbain volunteered to gather via email from the Guardians, the guidelines for an SL retreat including its purpose, and publish it in the wiki page for SL retreats. (Retreat guidelines already exist there, but not specificvally for SL retreats. )The retreat section of the wiki is a fully open public space.
 

Arch's observations on the retreat that he made by email were praised.

5. Trolls in PaB Activities

Trolls .. people who come to a group, and basically operate to disturb and upset people ... passive aggressive behavior typically. Cal said it has come up as an issue a few times. It's more obvious with pure aggression, but passive aggression often slips under the defenses of a group like PaB. As a host guardian, is there a responsibilty to keep an agressive visitor from attacking another member? It is unclear when it is appropriate. There's trouble both from ejecting or managing it, and trouble from NOT doing either.

Storm observed that before discussing this, we need to be very clear on what the purposes are for the PaB sessions otherwise you won't be clear on what disrupting them is.
 

Useful observations were made that I will not edit:

Bruce Mowbray: but perhaps one of the things we offer is a "space" for change to happen -- and a better example of how to interact.
Eos Amaterasu: offering such a space is very much within "play as being"
Calvino Rabeni: well what's "better" is the question .. if you mean, acting on principle
Bruce Mowbray agrees.
Eos Amaterasu: but also responding when what is aggessively attacked is also within PaB
Calvino Rabeni: however, this troll was plainly much more interested in trolling and baiting
Calvino Rabeni: to the point one visitor left swearing never to come back ... lots of drama
Aphrodite Macbain: the challege is to know when to ignore and when to take issue
Eos Amaterasu: can you summarize in 1 minute, Storm (as to purpose of PaB 's sessions)? It might be helpful
Calvino Rabeni: I just think, there are boundary limits to watch
Bruce Mowbray: Some people simply have no experience of mutual respect in a virtual reality world. . . We can show them that.
Calvino Rabeni: True Bruce, but, some have no interest in learning it .. and little indication that they would, so they aren't there for instruction
Storm Nordwind: I'm not defining or dictating purpose. We need to decide and agree before going on to see how to deal with what goes against that purpose.
Calvino Rabeni: and its questionable whether PaB has the job to "teach" them
Eos Amaterasu: Okay, this can be pursued further at guardian meetings, and maybe put on our next agenda to continue.

Meeting Adjourned at 15:00SL
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