Thursday, September 18, 2008

Formative Meetings

As I was sharing on a Quaker list this morning, I'm interested in Quaker meetings for business and worship that design themselves around open source and social networking tools, a marriage made in heaven if done right.

Qs have a long tradition of journaling, which today might mean blogging (as I'm doing here), but that's on the more individual level.

At the meeting level, the recording clerk distills the essence of a business meeting into minutes, and these become available to others concerned with the work of a meeting.

The shared meeting archive becomes a useful repository for historical information, such that newcomers needn't feel completely reliant on the selective memory of elders, oral histories etc., although these records may also be relevant.

Not every detail becomes public and transparency doesn't mean a complete lack of privacy.

Finding the right mix of secrecy and democracy is a topic many writers have tackled, especially in the business management section of your local bookstore, but also in the neighboring religious traditions, as religious institutions are businesses too i.e. serve economic functions.

I look forward to learning more from these and other sources.