Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Collective Memory in Cohousing Groups

[John Gear (catalyst]

>I would add to this thread that is a good practice to have the note 
>taker review what they have written down about an agreement or decision 
>at the end of the meeting.  Sometimes what the note taker writes down, 
>is not quite right and if you catch it then and there it saves 
>misinterpretation down the line.
>
>Sharingwood spent 30 minutes tracking down someone at our last meeting 
>because of one word from the minutes indicated a different course of 
>actions than we actually all thought we had taken.

Indeed.  It's after a few of those experiences that you begin to understand
the rigamarole about minutes of the previous meeting being approved before
the next meeting really begins--and the notes being considered tentative
until they are approved.

It makes sense once you realize that notes are the collective memory
structure--nice to make sure your memory is the same before acting on it.

Not sure I agree that the time to do this is at the end of a meeting.  After
a hard two-hour workout most people are done in and not necessarily very
attentive to the reviews.  In my experience, this review is either blown
off, perfunctory, or consists of one person reading undigested notes at
people who are putting on their coats or checking their watches and tapping
their feet.

The advantage of using some organization to your note taking is that you can
get the raw notes out on the street surprisingly quickly so people can
review them.  People are amazingly more likely to catch a notetaking error
or a misunderstanding with an empty bladder than they are when they are
tired/hungry/full.

But, as Rob says, this is an investment that pays dividends far in excess of
the costs.

P.S. to all:  Yes, it was my configuration file that caused me to be the
almost-anonymous catalyst [at] pacifier.com.  My access-provider's server has
been acting weird and finally crashed this morning.  I hope this reaches you
ok and should have my URL and name (John Gear)