Analysis Report

Transcription

Analysis Report

Analysis Report
Collaborative Technology Requirements
for Social Change Global Jam
July 18-19, 2007
Global Jam on Technology Requirements for Social Innovation
Table of Contents
Analysis Report on the Global Jam on Technology Requirements ............................................. 5
Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................... 5
Context ..................................................................................................................................... 5
Sponsors ................................................................................................................................... 5
Participants .............................................................................................................................. 6
Summary Insights..................................................................................................................... 6
Requirements for Engaging People in Online Collaboration ................................................... 6
Changing Organizations and Leadership ................................................................................. 7
Criticality of Sense-making....................................................................................................... 7
Organization of the Jam ........................................................................................................... 7
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 8
Recommendations ................................................................................................................... 9
WORKING ............................................................................................................................ 10
Overview .................................................................................................................................... 12
How We Work ........................................................................................................................ 12
Access, Equity, Money, and Power ........................................................................................ 13
Verbatims .................................................................................................................................. 15
How We Work Now ............................................................................................................... 15
Virtually or Blended ............................................................................................................... 15
Horizontally ............................................................................................................................ 15
Creatively ............................................................................................................................... 15
How is Work Changing? ......................................................................................................... 15
The F2F vs. Virtual Debate ..................................................................................................... 19
Access, Equity, Money and Power ......................................................................................... 20
Digital Natives and Wise Elders ............................................................................................. 22
How and Where We Work Online ......................................................................................... 23
INNOVATING ....................................................................................................................... 25
Overview .................................................................................................................................... 27
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Innovation and Organizational Change ................................................................................. 27
Innovation as Behavioral Change .......................................................................................... 27
Resources offered for technology: ........................................................................................ 28
Verbatims .................................................................................................................................. 28
Innovation as a New and Promising Idea .............................................................................. 28
The People and the Environment .......................................................................................... 29
Organizational Change ........................................................................................................... 32
LEARNING ............................................................................................................................ 37
Overview .................................................................................................................................... 39
Educational Contexts ............................................................................................................. 39
From LMSs to PLEs ................................................................................................................. 39
E-Portfolios............................................................................................................................. 39
Focus on the Learning Process............................................................................................... 40
Learning Technology .............................................................................................................. 40
Verbatims .................................................................................................................................. 41
Learning in the Context of Social Innovation ......................................................................... 43
Learning Institutions and Their Methods .............................................................................. 43
LEADING .............................................................................................................................. 49
Overview .................................................................................................................................... 51
Organizational Redefinition ................................................................................................... 51
Organizational Leadership ..................................................................................................... 51
Community Leadership .......................................................................................................... 51
Other Matters ........................................................................................................................ 52
Verbatims .................................................................................................................................. 52
Redefining Organization ........................................................................................................ 52
Leadership in a Networked World ......................................................................................... 52
The New Work of Leaders...................................................................................................... 53
Community Building: Trust, Reputation, and Facilitation ..................................................... 54
Leadership Development ....................................................................................................... 55
Return on Investment ............................................................................................................ 55
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Technology and Leadership ................................................................................................... 56
The Next Frontier ................................................................................................................... 56
THE TECHNOLOGY ANALYSIS ................................................................................................ 57
Overview ................................................................................................................................ 58
Findings, Recommendations, Action Steps............................................................................ 59
ONLINE RESOURCES................................................................................................................... 67
GLOSSARY .................................................................................................................................. 70
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Analysis Report on the Global Jam on Technology
Requirements
This report summarizes and analyzes the contributions of the nearly two hundred participants
from around the world in the Global Jam on Technology Requirements held on July 18-19, 2007.
The various sections of the report were contributed by, Brenda Kaulback, Doris ReevesLipscomb, Aimee Maron, Lynn McDonald, Jennifer Morfín, Susan Restler, Bronwyn Stuckey, and
Diana Woolis. The final report was compiled and coordinated by Brenda Kaulback.
Executive Summary
Context
The Global Jam1 on Technology Requirements for Social Innovation took place on July 18-19,
2007. Seven organizations sponsored the JAM, donating their resources and time. The Jam goal
was to bring NGO/CBO/government/public policy professionals together with consultants,
academics and technologists to discuss the work and needs of the sector and their implications
for the development of collaborative technologies.
Sponsors
The Global Jam was led by a team of people headed by Diana Woolis, Knowledge in the Public
Interest, and Jeff Kwaterski, Impact Alliance and included Aimee Maron-PACT Ecuador; Jen
Hunter- The Learning Catalyst, Kim Lowery-Kabissa, Nancy White-Full Circle Associates and
Roshani Kothari-One World.
Volunteers
We are grateful to the following people who volunteered as facilitators and/or helped to
analyze the data: Brenda Kaulback who compiled and coordinated the final report and Laren
1
A JAM is a term borrowed from IMB which refers to an online discussion that is focused on work, time
limited, asynchronous, moderated, and subsequently analyzed.
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Droll who created and maintained the Jam site and provided tech support, and Aimee Maron,
Brenda Bucheli, Bronwyn Stuckey, Bruce Smith, Conor O'Brien, Saripalli Suryanarayana, Jay
Deragon, Jennifer Bouchard, Jennifer Morfin, Josef Hofer-Alfeis, Jen Hunter, Kim Lowery, Lars
Soeftestad, Lisa H., Michael Clarke, Nancy White, Neil Pakenham-Walsh, Norma Garza, Patricia
Arana Tagle, Patsy Seow, Peter Pinch, Roshani Kothari, Roy Williams, Tanya Emshanova, and
Tim Davies.
Participants
The sponsors extended invitations to participants and, as with the convention of the internet;
these invitations were passed on around the globe. 300 people completed a survey which was
the “price of admission” to the Jam and served to gather demographic, experiential, and
attitudinal data around online collaboration. The survey solicited volunteer facilitators, experts
and analysts for the Jam, and a group of 20 people came forward to help to lead and support
the discussion. One hundred ninety-two (192) of the survey responders/registrants participated
in the Jam. See “Faces of the Jam” at the end of this document.
Summary Insights
The sponsors of the Jam are all organizations that actively use online collaborative technologies
as part of their work processes. They share a sense of the limitations and inadequacies of
available technologies for collaborative online work. They also share the view that the social
sector is an emerging market for technological development. Their collective hope was that this
Jam would identify specific needs that would prompt a software development response from
the field.
Requirements for Engaging People in Online Collaboration
The first major point of consensus is around an understanding of what is required to engage
people in productive online collaboration: a thoughtful engagement process, leadership
support, and access. Whether the goal is mission-critical work, policy or program innovation, or
the acquisition of knowledge and skills, online collaboration can improve outcomes, at lower
cost and faster than exclusively offline media. However, “if you build it they won’t come.”
Collaborating online requires support and facilitation. A corollary conclusion of the Jam
participants is that it is neither practical nor desirable for everything to move online. Rather
online/offline permeability is the goal, i.e. a fluid use of various media ranging from F2F (faceto-face), to cell and human messaging, to synchronous and asynchronous online interactions,
depending on the objective and on the available options.
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Changing Organizations and Leadership
This leads to the second major insight of the Jam. The successful and productive incorporation
of online collaborative technologies in an organization is, by definition, disruptive and
represents organizational change. Both the opportunity and the implications need to be
recognized by leaders and, indeed, these technologies require new leadership skills. These skills
are not technological per se, that is there is no presumption that strong sector leaders need be
“techies.” However, appreciating the power of the medium to effect change and guiding people
to the change through the medium is a new critical leadership skill. A changing leadership style
is demanded in these flatter organizations, a style not based in “command and control”
leadership.
Criticality of Sense-making
The third insight to be drawn from the Jam is the criticality of mediation and “sense-making” in
online collaborative engagement. In an active online environment there is a lot going on.
People discuss, post materials and links that they feel are relevant, some digress (as can happen
in any gathering). The result can be voluminous and extremely difficult to parse through –
another material contribution to “information overload” and no more. There is interest in and
optimism about the capacity of technology to mediate some kinds of information. There is also
a recognition that both the active facilitation of online collaborative interactions and the
analysis of these is a requirement and defines new skills and roles.
These insights emerged from the Jam as a whole and found their voice in several if not all of the
tracks. There were in turn compelling ideas that emerged from the focused discussion in each
track.
Organization of the Jam
The Jam was organized in four tracks all of which were open simultaneously throughout the 48
hours. Each track sought to examine the technology requirements for social innovation in terms
of a different goal or objective. The four tracks were: Working, Learning, Innovating, and
Leading.
Working
The way that we work is changing because of collaborative technology and technology is
changing because of the way we do work. As we move away from the nine-to-five go-to-theoffice scenario, the possibilities for where, when and how work is done seem limitless. Perhaps
more importantly, with whom we work is also changing, as technology enables us to reach out
to and connect with others around the globe.
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Innovating
An innovative idea can emerge as a reaction or response to a problem, need or challenge. This
kind of “reactive” innovation is significantly abetted by online collaborative technologies
because of the speed with which a wide net can be cast for input and ideas. Indeed the width of
the net is limited only by the vision of the leader. Mediating the inputs and driving a productive
process forward requires technology but is fundamentally also a leadership issue.
Learning
Technology impacted education with online learning technologies and opened access to
educational opportunities for many to whom these doors were closed. As collaborative
technology moves into its next iteration, a generation of digital natives engages in learning in a
whole new way. The boundaries of the classroom are dissolving and the focus of the learning
partnership is moving from teaching to learning.
Leading
As technology transforms the way we work and learn, it also is changing the role of leaders and
the way that they lead. Command and control is just not possible in an environment where
communication does not flow through hierarchical channels. Even decision-making, long the
foundation of the leadership role, is being challenged. Growing and supporting online
communities as well demands leaders who see their role more as gardeners and stewards than
as managers and decision-makers.
Conclusion
While this Jam was far from effortless, relative to the time and cost that would have been
involved in actually convening 192 people from around the world for two days of engaging and
productive discussions, the effort was limited. Indeed the most demanding aspect of the
process is the analysis. And yet it is the analysis – the sense-making – that moves the
experience from a heartwarming opportunity to share ideas with an ad hoc group of interested
and interesting people, to an opportunity to push a small number of issues to the fore and
potentially impact the debate on what and how best to use online collaboration.
In some ways the very fact of the Jam itself makes a vital point about the power and potential
of collaborative technologies – that a small effort can produce a large outcome. The emphasis is
on “can,” because the potential is there but it won’t produce itself; it must be mediated. This is
a message that should break through. Certainly it is possible to hypothesize that just a relatively
small number of important successes with online collaboration could shake up the paradigm(s)
of the sector, compounding rapidly and setting of serious structural change.
And perhaps as the social sector absorbs the medium and its tools and responds through
leadership and organizational change, the focus will evolve from outcomes to effects; that is,
the perceived value of replicating proven models will be supplanted by the more appealing goal
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of adoption and adaptation. This can happen because of the ease with which ideas and
information can be shared digitally. Rapid virtuous cycles of “doing-learning-sharing and doing
again” will be sought out and they will spawn effects both imaginable and surprising.
Recommendations
The core objective of the Jam was only partially realized because the developer voice was not
well represented. A follow-on exchange with the software development community to explore
needs and ideas raised in the Jam might both identify capabilities that are already in process
and influence future innovation.
The Jam also raised a lot of interest in jamming. The process and skills required can be codified
and shared/taught and developed further through a Wiki.
Ultimately if the sector is true to its collective mission it will be possible for promising and great
ideas to be clearly, widely, and easily available. One JAM participant imagined an E-Bay for
innovative solutions to small and large challenges. Technology does facilitate transparency. Can
transparency and credible mediation combine to “free” the great ideas to travel as they are
needed?
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WORKING
Cloud from Tim Davies
Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon.
Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be
exalted,
And human love will be seen at its height.
Live in fragments no longer.
Only connect...
--E.M. Forster, Howards End
(Posted by Conor O’Brien)
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Overview
How We Work
As Ryan Healy said in the Web Worker Daily, “Cubicle farms are a thing of the past”2 We are
working in new ways, in new forums, using new technologies, or moving toward them. We are
working from wherever we are: internet cafes, wireless hotspots, virtual classrooms,
telecentres, cybercafés, on beaches and in home offices. We are working horizontally in
organizations, rather than vertically. On our own, we are grazing online forums, reading and
posting in blogs, joining online communities and participating in F2F events. We creatively
blend technology with the “on-ground,” combining face-to-face meetings with online
communication or printing out pages from the Web and posting them on telephone poles,
using Open Space Technology (developed for face-to-face meetings) in online venues.
As technology aids and invades us there is some question and some concern about the
blurring of the lines between work/learning and social/private. There is talk of the fuzzy
boundary between much socially oriented work and one's "private" life. (Clarke) as well as
“shifting from a 9-4 pass-time to a 24/7 one, a solo one to a group one, and a 'memory'
activity to much more of an information handling one” (Thompson)
Supporting Virtual Collaboration
There is consensus around the importance of NOT talking about technology, but rather focusing
on the work. The focus of one’s work in supporting individuals and organizations engaged in
social innovation inevitably comes back to addressing the need and focusing on and supporting
the work in whatever way makes sense, whether through technological solutions or not. There
is also agreement that the “magic is in what people will do with it” and an appreciation that it
takes more than a “if you build it they will come approach.” Nancy White mentioned
"community technology stewardship" as a critical skill for leaders, (Smith) and others
concurred.
Participants had a concern around the need for more depth and “sense-making” in online
dialogue – a feeling that the divergent processes encouraged through on-line lists, blogs, and
virtual communities needed some convergent processes to bring it all together and make sense
of it. “Many discussions and especially listservs do perhaps increase a sense of sharing… but
they seem to me to sorely lack any sense of convergence, summary, or movement toward a
shared product or decision.” (Kennedy) Resolutions to this included transparent lists, voting
2
Healy, Ryan What Gen Y Wants from Work. Web Worker Daily. July 17, 2007. Retrieved from
http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/07/16/guest-post-what-gen-y-wants-from-work
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priorities, channeling main issues into a survey, ranking processes, a focus on leadership, wiki’s,
subject-based networking tools (affinity maps) and prediction markets.
Engaging people in the design, not just the end product or service, was noted, or, as Lars
Soeftestad put it “increased participation (leading to increased equity and transparency) as
both a means and a goal.”
The great debate over the virtues of face-to-face encounters vs. virtual ones raged on in this
conversation. There are the advocates who, while admitting the virtues of technology, exhort
the virtues of face-to-face.” “Understanding people’s sense-making activities (see work by
Brenda Dervin in USA) requires…an ethnographic/quantitative approach that is not easily
supported by an online community.” (Gurd) While some identified barriers to online
collaboration (access, time, spam blockers), most expressed a rejection of the need to choose
one or the other. “Why must we dichotomize this – why not embrace the both/and – or even
better yet, the ALL that we have to embrace.” (Hunter)
Access, Equity, Money, and Power
Perhaps the topic which generated the most pages in the WORK thread, however, was the
question of access and equity. There were those who felt that face-to-face was often “for those
with resources and power,” and those who believed that “technology-based approaches
require significant resources and power.” There was also the point expressed that for some,
meeting with people outside their own circles was not possible either virtually or through
travel.
Technology is a gender issue, at least in some countries, and Lars Soeftestad told a heartbreaking story of the funding being cut for a project for women in Mauritania, even as it was
making an impact. These women came to a telecentre on the premises of the aid agency, so
that “It was not clear to men walking past on the street whether the women were visiting the
offices or the telecentre.” (Soeftestad)
Lars Soeftestad also illustrated the issue of control of resources with the story of a team in
Africa with access to one computer, available, ostensibly to all. In order to use it, one just had
to petition the Director, who was always in the room with the computer, or, when he was out,
locked the office.
On the question of equity, there was also a lively debate around the age factor. Some argued
that digital natives (young enough to be brought up with computers) had the advantage over
their elders. Others insisted that no one should make assumptions based on age. “I am no
spring chicken, insisted Bronwyn Stuckey, “but fit no stereotype of my generation and I can
point to maybe 20 others in this Jam who are likewise driven by real needs to communicate…”
Access in many countries revolves around visiting telecentres or cybercafés (the latter being
more profit-driven and the former more community centered). Nancy White commented on
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the more common experience of using internet-based technologies from a group/collective
perspective in some cultures and the more common individualized experience in the West.
Williams and Soeftestad debated the effects of local communities, particularly in Africa, with
communal or collective property rights and complex legal issues coming into contact with
“global realities” and the resulting impact, (with no easy solution).
Tools and Technologies
For technologies: participants reported using collaborative platforms, Moodle, Wikis,
Traditional HTML, Phpbb, Flickr, Wikispaces, Yahoo Groups, Slideshare, Youtube and many
of the above integrated into one platform. Drupal and Joomla were debated as current Content
Management Systems. Google Reader is suggested for tracking new content; ning.com is used
for social networks. For collaborative work and building content together, wikis, xPERT
eCommunity and SharePoint (part of Microsoft Office 2007) were recommended. For project
management, Zoho, www.whodo.es, and Basecamp got mixed results, the primary downside is
that none of them are totally free. Mobile phones got a lot of interest as well, both as a basic
tool available in places where other options are not and mobile phones paired with other new
technologies.
Second Life, which reportedly has been visited by over eight million people, is seen by some as
the epitome of creativity (both to witness it and to engage in it), a fertile market, and, by Global
Kids and the MacArthur Foundation, worthy of annual conventions, research and how-to
papers. Others see it as mostly hype, or perhaps, at most, a source for “outreach, awareness,
and community building,” but not worth putting on “an organization’s to-do list.” (Bejar)
There was some interest in e-commerce, with reservations around processing payments and
shipping costs.
Participants expressed a desire for more integrated platforms, for companies to have more
uniform offerings that don’t necessitate the user having to "learn hundreds of different
programs with all their nuances” (Hunter), for a free project management tool, and for a
phone/computer that we can carry in our pockets that weighs less than 150 grams (about 5
ounces). From those working in developing countries (and perhaps elsewhere), a need was
expressed for “a better way to share audio and video content over dial-up and a way to
integrate SMS to CMS, to make it easier to post on a website without Internet access.” (Bejar)
“The use of a common Google type platform on PPC could help to change (Lars point about)
“understanding participation as both a means and an aim.” It could put the office technology
into the chaos of the street and allow connections that are impossible now…(O’Brien)
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Verbatims
How We Work Now
On-line communication has the ability to …address issues of immediate concern (Moran)
Virtually or Blended
(We use) a collaboration platform as our only office;…we use IM, conference calls, and
have access to web meeting technology, but don't use it internally all that often (with
customers we use it a lot). (Bruck)
Face to face conversations - virtual and real blend: - a community of High School teachers
from 40 schools in NE Thailand attending a workshop that I led on use of Web 2.0 in
English language learning at SUT. There is a need to cut down on air travel with dangerous
emissions - and face to face is a luxury item along with time. (Eyles)
Horizontally
I try and find work environments that allow me to work horizontally,3 since I am not usually
obsessed by details or working on the same file forever. (Gurd)
Creatively
Online, I use a mix of technologies. Using a mix of technologies (Traditional HTML, Phpbb, Flickr,
Wikispaces, Yahoo Groups) works well to connect to different audiences and to keep current
with developing technologies. (See Resources for links to these technologies) (Mader)
We've been doing … programs here to get staff familiar with new tools, and to help people try
new things. One result is that we now have materials on sites such as YouTube and Flickr, we're
working on a Facebook application, and have badges that let people display one of our RSS
feeds on other sites. But that's how we get the word out. (Davidow)
How is Work Changing?
More Collaborative
Work has become more interrupt-driven, but also, in many, many ways, far more
immediately collaborative. (Davidow)
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I have been amazed at the potential (of technology) to make connections, link resources,
include important parties into a conversation and bring issues to the table. I think the very
nature of the tool, its impersonality, its immediacy, and its capacity gives us the ability to
see, hear, as well as read at the same time-something that is not always possible in face to
face communication. It eliminates interruption. It archives automatically, and exactly.
(Born)
More Asynchronously
We are great believers in the asynch tools - it helps us focus on WORK rather than
MEETINGS -. (Bruck)
Blurring the lines
I think in many ways the lines between work per se and other more social activities, has
become blurred, especially for the 'netgeners'. Learning too has become much more of a
social activity and is certainly shifting from a 9-4 past-time to a 24/7 one, a solo one to a
group one, and a 'memory' activity to much more of an information handling one….Due to
the technology work too is now much easier to do from anywhere anytime and we must be
cautious this does not mean it intrudes on our 'other lives' too much. As one who works
from home I can identify with this as a real possibility... (Thompson)
Any thoughts about how (as "work" moves into previously "private" social networking
spaces) the combination of the two might work? Or what tensions might arise? It could be
seen as a natural fit given the fuzzy boundary between much socially oriented work and
one's "private" life. (Clarke)
Supporting Virtual Collaboration
An intriguing part of this particular case of online communication – data, information and
knowledge aside – (is) that we all come from different backgrounds and thus use different
terms and even think along different trajectories. It makes it a bit of a challenge to get at key
points at times, but all the more rewarding. (Soeftestad)
If You Build It
Often my clients and prospects take an 'if you build it they will come' approach to
implementing our technology - that their users will begin to use it right out-of-the-box. My
sales colleagues do sell our systems as being easy-to-learn and easy-to-use. That said, the
magic is in what people do with it so the key to success is understanding how a group of
people will want to use a technology or, sometimes, not want to use a technology.
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In helping clients launch purpose-driven communities, I try to proactively increase its
chance of success by seeding it with the 'right stuff': the right content and activities, for
the right people, for the right reasons. Basically, I want to show that there is a value for
these people to come and participate in the community and I'm hoping that they will soon
begin to rely less on me (the community sponsor) and more on each other. (Chen)
Throughout the process of creating and managing a wiki-approach to eliciting input for
philanthropic strategy, we learned many things, focused both on the design and activation of
such an approach. Briefly, here are some important things to think about:
-
-
-
Certain users, specifically those with limited experience editing wikis, are more
comfortable with discussion forums. For this reason, a combined wiki-discussion board
approach is helpful.
Technological concerns are of utmost importance -- it is highly important to make sure
that users can easily access the wiki.
Advertising and actively brining important stakeholders to the wiki is a crucial part of
the process. Some users will organically come to the website, but it is very important to
do outreach to the community in order to bring stakeholders into the forum.
Moderation and active "wiki gardening" is necessary to keep the conversation going.
(Kirschner)
The Need for Stewardship
At the end of her entry on A Plea to Rethink the Desire to Meet, (Michelle Martin) makes
reference to "technology stewardship" which she says is "helping people realize when it
makes sense to use online tools to get things done." Nancy White has mentioned
"community technology stewardship" as a critical skill for leaders in a recent post on the
Leading discussion. It sounds like from Nancy's perspective it has to do with being savvy
enough to find the right tool or mix of tools to meet the needs of a community with
diverse membership. (Smith)
My take homes are:
•
•
•
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As ALWAYS, purpose/motivation are critical.
Power and privilege are always in the mix, and I take it as my responsibility not to
shut my eyes to them.
If I am in a stewardship role, I can't design from just my perspective. Choices are
interestingly complex at times! (White)
WORKING
Engaging People in Designing
A quote … of my own, applicable to most of my work in development cooperation as well as
guiding my work on networking and managing online communities: "If it was people that
caused a problem in the first place, than these very people have to be involved in order to solve
that problem." In other words, increased participation (leading to increased equity and
transparency) as both a means and a goal. (Soeftestad)
Focus on the Work
To "focus on work rather than meetings," I might add to that 'make the process of doing
the work transparent or visible so that others will know how, when, where, etc. to do the
work. Some things work best in the real world, others can be enhanced in a virtual one.'
The link between real and virtual worlds is important when organizations try to start
community initiatives. It is likely that the organization has already thought long and hard
about the 'right stuff' for the programs (and processes) they run in the real world. They've
(hopefully) thought about the value proposition that is being offered to a particular group
of its stakeholders and it (hopefully) is aligned with its corporate strategy. I then seek to
use online communications mediums like community to complement the business intent of
a real world program or process. By seeking out optimal situations like these and
enhancing the program or process by building community around it, I'm hoping it will spark
interest among eventual participants thus shortening the adoption time of the community
by ensuring its relevancy and integration to the things that stakeholders already value.
(Chen)
Sense-making
In considering the subjects of collaboration and communities, especially around getting
work done, I would highlight (both) interaction and … sense-making. Many discussions
and especially listservs do perhaps increase a sense of sharing … but they seem to me to
sorely lack any sense of convergence, summary, or movement toward a shared product or
decision. …I certainly feel it is possible to get work done online. I just don't think that a
community per se will do this. As in any form of group meeting, I think the big 'gotcha' is
structuring some follow through. But, at least in my world, this requires arriving at a
decision which reflects a specific direction for the group. …So I am a proponent of using
some form of convergence -- voting priorities, channeling main issues into a survey,
ranking processes -- and then further into some form of accountability -- (Kennedy)
(I have an interest in…) subject-based networking tools (affinity maps) and prediction
markets….. These latter … really gather the collective intelligence of the entire community
and render this as an ongoing value proposition (HP has been using a version of this to
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make strategy decisions on various products, and to predict future sales....obviously using
a selected membership group.) These have an interesting chaotic/chaordic element to
them in that management is not in control, yet there is a structure to be followed.
(Kennedy)
The F2F vs. Virtual Debate
F2F Forever
(Online communication) cannot substitute for face to face. We are social creatures and the
opportunity to meet and work (and play) together is the 'glue' for a community that has a long
life (as opposed to a temporary community). (Moran)
There is a qualitative difference between face-to-face communication and online
communication. … one in face-to-face interaction can play on the whole cultural context that
data and information are imbedded in. In other words, knowledge for me is the contextual
framework within which data and information can be best interpreted, analysed and assessed.
This does of course not mean that I argue that it is not possible to have "truly meaningful
interaction online". We most certainly can. It is just that the scope of what can be
communicated face-to-face is broader, it is "richer", to invoke a term that I used in a post
earlier today. (Soeftestad)
Barriers to Online Work
Teachers and principals … have difficulty accessing the community off campus, blockers
sometimes 'block out' emails relating to jams. (Moran)
Time is an issue - people are very busy and educators often have urgent issues to address - no
matter how compelling an on-line jam, a student in trouble is the priority (Moran)
Need Supplants Resistance
Where a means meets a need, magic happens. I think for those that resist online meetings,
they have never had the profound need and therefore find it more challenging to make a
transition to a new way of working. (White)
I'm still uncomfortable online, especially in forums. I find it a tough slog. Perhaps because I'm a
slow reader and typer. I have no problems, however, writing blog posts. So need is crucial. But I
think it is need in combination with effort, risk, and reward. (Callahan)
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WORKING
Both and
Recognizing that our mission may not be virtual only--that we need to look at face-to-face
activities and events. Interesting how the more we gather online, the more we gather faceto-face. (Davidow)
In appropriate situations, online collaboration can complement and enhance face-to-face
engagement…Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to attend the Community 2.0
Conference. One of the keynote speakers was John Hagel, who is a consultant, author and
blogger on business, strategy and technology topics…John's keynote was on the subject of
"What's Possible? - Expanding Markets Through Virtual Communities." One of his points
resonated with me: that community can take the form of both a physical and a virtual
place. Further, those individuals using virtual mediums to connect will still seek
opportunities to gather in the real world. (Chen)
Access, Equity, Money and Power
The Luxury of Face-to-Face
Getting to meet F2F is often for those with resources and power. Getting online in many
places is still a resource for those with money and power…For me, the ability to work
collaboratively goes well beyond style and preference. It must consider access and power
dynamics as well… (White)
Face-to-face (communication) may be too costly and in some cases practically very challenging.
I have tried to sure that constant communications requiring quick actions, knowledge
management development and dissemination for a highly geographically spread stakeholders is
achieved online. The stakeholders are interested in learning from a global pool of knowledge to
improve the efficiency of their work locally, but can’t afford it ... So they achieved so much
within a short-time by belonging to different forums engaging and sharing their experience, and
learning from other peoples experience and sharing with their own community … (Kiyawa)
The Luxury of Technology
This is a very interesting perspective--that F2F is for those with resources and power. There are
times when this is the absolute truth…and yet, there are times when a technology-based
approach requires significant resources and power. For one thing, we have to be extremely
literate to operate in a word-driven environment like this one. Not to mention, the need for
electricity, computers, internet service and the education base that gives us access…For me,
this raises the question of being clear about purpose and fitting the media to the task at hand…
helping people clarify the purpose of their meetings and their information sharing and helping
people find the right medium is the work. How do we explore the issues of purpose and power
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WORKING
in ways that lead us to rational and helpful conclusions about the platform we chose for
gathering/meeting/learning together? (Goldstine-Cole)
Social innovation will have to include people who have limited access to technology, either
because it is not available or they are not into technology. There are more people in that
bracket than there are in the “have technology” bracket. While there are 8 million people in
Second Life there are a few billion who are not. (O’Brien)
Meet the Need
I was recently in Bolivia for work and was talking to some colleagues at a partner
organization about Web 2.0 technologies and some of their potential applications and the
question posed to me was something to the effect of: "How can we be promoting
technologies as the primary way to facilitate learning communities? This seems extremely
elitist."…Technology is certainly not always the most appropriate answer. I think the point
Nancy makes about "a need being met" is the most important...not necessarily the tool
that ends up being used to try and address this need. (Maron)
No Need to Meet
It may have to do with our various points of departure, and our constituencies. In my case
they are rural folks in developing countries, and for these people to meet F2F has nothing
to do with resources and power - they meet F2F on a general basis. That they cannot meet
F2F with somebody in a different country, or even in the capital, is a different story, and
this certainly has to do with lack of resources (thus, as a rule, when such encounters
happen, it is the outsider that comes to them). But then again, most of these people do not
necessarily crave to meet outsiders, neither F2F nor online … in these places it is usually
not a question of either F2F or online. Rather, it is to start at a much more basic level and
begin by nurturing civil society and support F2F communication (which, by our standards
are still lagging behind - e.g. as connected with lack of equity and transparency). And this
is, as you will all appreciate, a long process. (Soeftestad)
Access for Whom?
It was easier to get very rural, isolated women online via school internet centers than it is
to get well connected nonprofit folks in my state online. (White)
In rural areas in the countries where I work (incl. most recently Cameroon, Chad, Ghana,
Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Yemen), … The chances of getting women online are mostly
very slim indeed (with Ghana and Nigeria being exceptions), while NGOs (in the countries
where there are alive or even emerging NGOs and civil society) are usually eager
adopters…(Soeftestad)
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WORKING
Mauratanian Women
The German bilateral aid agency GTZ has worked in (Mauritania) for a number of years,
and it was my great luck that GTZ, in collaboration with UNDP in Mauritania ("Programme
des Nations Unies pour le Développement en Mauritanie" – PNUD, at www.pnud.mr) had
just started a small project, actually a community telecentre (or "cybercommune," which is
the term used in Mauritania)" …the focus of this project was on training women to use
computers and the Internet. The project tried hard to accommodate women, which at least
initially meant to get the men to understand that this did not represent a problem, and
would not cause problems … In this it appears that they succeeded, at least initially. Even
so, it was a wise idea to locate the telecentre on the premises of the GTZ offices, so that it
was not clear to men walking past on the street whether the women were visiting the GTZ
offices or the telecentre.
The project closed around 2005… Addressing gender issues in a country like Mauritania is,
to be true, exceedingly difficult, and needs a very long-term perspective. To what extent
community telecentres – or this particular approach at any rate – is the way to go, is an
open question. (Soeftestad)
Control by Whom?
(A) World Bank project in a country in Africa. … had one computer with internet
connection, located in the Director's office next to his desk. All staff could, in principle, use
it. There was, however, some formalities around this right: they had to officially request it
from the Director. And the Director would always be in the room. When he was away,
which was quite often, the office was locked and nobody could access the Internet. While
the Director may have had good intentions for this kind of control, I do also see a strong
element of control and power being used here. And, to connect this with the argument
above, NGOs and civil society in developing and transition countries are clearly early and
eager adopters, while the public sector is equally clearly lagging behind. (Soeftestad)
Digital Natives and Wise Elders
Digital Natives
Younger leaders are raised with and rely much more heavily on technology of all kinds.
(Woolis)
Our son has been home from college this summer. I am reminded of how much work and
collaboration have changed as I watch him switch between his cell phone, his IMs,
checking things on Facebook and email, and in between, study and work on personal
projects. (Davidow)
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In Defense of Elders
I am always a little bemused by the whole generational thing that wipes out anyone older
the 25 as having not come to use emerging technologies ion highly effective and second
nature ways. I am no spring chicken but fit no stereotype of my generation and I can
point to maybe 20 others in this Jam who are likewise driven by real needs to
communicate are using the tools we are speaking of. I think we have to keep the gen
Y/digital native/etc etc labels in check as they often are made to sound like the solution to
something. (Stuckey)
…With a small group (5) of Adult Education Program Managers in Virginia,…the goal was to
use an online community to develop a radically different approach to high school
equivalency preparation. One of the PMs was self-confident about technology the other 4
were relatively insecure and inexperienced... they not only developed a successful program
model but rolled it out via the online COP statewide to 50 PMs. One of the unanticipated
by-products of the work was the effect of working online on both the skills and selfconfidence of many in the group. It was as if a world that these PMs never thought they
would enter had suddenly been opened to them. …This had a profound effect not just on
their attitude towards technology generally, but also on their openness to new ideas and
their expectations about the speed with which work could be accomplished. (Restler)
How and Where We Work Online
Working Online With Others
Both cybercafes and telecentres … are socially connected internet connection points. It is
not working online alone. Working a bit in Africa I learned a whole new way of being online
when I was WITH others who were online at a very busy place called, of all things, Busy
Internet. (This particular one had a hybrid cybercafe/telecentre approach and biz model!)
… We use internet based technologies for working both from an individual and a group
perspective. The group experience is MUCH more common outside of the wealthier
countries…(White)
…what you call the "group experience" is much more common in developing and transition
countries. Where we in the West are individualized to an almost extreme degree, the
group or the collective (meaning, the family, the extended family, the tribe (and several
intermediary steps), the neighborhood, the village, etc. etc.) are of vital importance.
(Soeftestad)
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WORKING
Cybercafes or Telecentres
Community telecenters…definitively improve access to technology, at least in my country,
Peru, where you can easily find many of them throughout the country. To give you an idea,
about 3 years ago, I was facilitating a workshop in Valle Urubamba in Cusco (wonderful
place!) in a place about a couple of hours from a main city, and urgently needed to send
emails ... and I was so surprised to find one in this place! I was using a computer beside
some local people, some of them young, sure, but others not ... (Bucheli)
Cybercafés/internet cafés are, on the whole… private sector based. That is, the owners
care only about making a profit (and a nice one at that - being entrepreneurs in an
exploding market where costs are low and user fees are, relatively speaking, very high).
Thus, it is fairly predictable who frequent these places, as well as what they do (according
to my own participatory survey activities based on a sampling technique that clearly leaves
something to be desired): they are mostly young men, and they spend hours and hardearned cash (as they mostly come from elite backgrounds one suspects that it is their
fathers that in many cases have done the hard work), on three main types of activities:
online games, trying to find employment and education opportunities abroad, and chat
rooms. The latter largely amounts to chatting with women that I suspect are mostly
located in developed countries. Is this a harsh judgment? …Telecentres are different
altogether. Partly because they often are located in rural areas, and partly because the
management cultivate and nurture specific foci, as well as address specific segments of the
population. Lower prices means that the less well-to-do can afford it, and catering
specifically to women and to local NGOs is a common feature. (There is) such a telecentre
… located in Mauritania, where they go by the name of "cybercommune"). (Soeftestad)
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INNOVATING
Joanna Macy: "Real learning is not
something added, it is a reorganization of
the system. New nets and assemblies occur,
loops form, alternate pathways develop.
The viewed world is different and so is the
viewer."
Posted by Ron Mader
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INNOVATING
Overview
The term innovating sparked numerous interpretations, which in turn took the discussion in
varied directions. Technology can impact both the development and the dissemination of new
ideas.
Innovation is a new promising idea. It comes most often in response to a problem or issue.
Technology, and particularly online communities, can facilitate this type of innovation because
it/they provide the means to achieve what seem to be the critical success factors for “reactive”
innovation:
§
§
§
Securing the input of diverse cross-boundary groups/individuals i.e. people who can see
the problem afresh (Anklam, Hofer-Alfeis)
Engaging a mix of types of people who will create and carry the idea forward (who
knows, who can, who cares – (Bucheli) and mavens, connectors and sales – (Dohrn,
Gladwell), Point of Passion/Point of Pain (Woolis)
Facilitating community engagement thereby unleashing creativity, socializing new ideas
and ultimately gaining buy-in (Kwaterski, Kuo)
Innovation and Organizational Change
Innovation is or requires organizational change. This is tied to the idea that technology is
innovative by definition and therefore the adoption of technology necessitates organizational
change. How then to achieve organizational change:
§
§
§
In small organizations the leader is key. H/she changes behavior and expectations and
the organization will respond (Bruck)
Large organizations require a more formal process of engagement to get a group of
people to form an online community, for example, and change the way they work as a
result (Bruck)
Subversive or under the radar groups often are exemplars of organizational change in
large organizations. For their work to have wider effect leaders must be trained to look
for these groups and nourish their lives and achievements (Cranston)
Innovation as Behavioral Change
Innovation is really behavioral change and for adults this must be learned – in effect, innovation
as pedagogy. Mader quotes Joanna Macy on learning as…”the reorganization of the system.”
Communities of practice are structures that can foster effective adult learning if they are well
organized and facilitated (Garza). Action research as a process can have the same effect; that
is, adults hypothesize, investigate or experience, assess and re-hypothesize (Warren).
Storytelling cannot be underestimated in its value in helping adults to see something in a new
and different way (Gurd, Stuckey).
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INNOVATING
Gaps in technology to support innovation:
•
Single sign-on (Davies)
•
Open standards (Davies)
•
Visual tools and less text dependency (Pinch)
•
Work-arounds for erratic web connectivity (Davies)
•
Information overload management tools (Hildreth)
•
Lurker engagement (Lowery)
However a critical need is for online/offline permeability, that is, the fluid incorporation of
many tools from F2F to cell phone, human chain, radio, etc to the net to engage people in
innovation.
Resources offered for technology:
•
Opentext Livelink for community collaboration with workflow modeling (Hofer Alfeis)
•
Inklingmarkets for wisdom of crowds and identifying compelling ideas (Kwaterski )
•
Changemakers.net for hosting innovation challenges (Kwaterski)
•
Wiseearth.org a place to post problems/seek innovative responses (Hosking)
•
PandG Connect and Develop site (Kwaterski)
While sites and services are emerging to link problems and ideas no one has yet developed an
“e-bay” approach that might serve as a global market place.
Verbatims
Innovation as a New and Promising Idea
This type of innovation is greatly aided by bringing together a diverse cross-boundary group of
people:
Much current work in the field of social/organizational network analysis looks at the
composition of social networks within and across organizations. They key to successful
innovation is openness in networks. This has several levels:
•
28
Cross-boundary (groups) Ensuring that groups are not closed to outside ideas and
interactions. A tightly knit group may not get sufficient ideas, nor have the right attitude
to bring in and process ideas that come from other sources
INNOVATING
•
Personal networks. innovators are those who can and do look across boundaries,
regions, and hierarchical position in their organizations and communities and enjoy a
diverse set of inputs and ideas
•
A social network analysis can reveal metrics that indicate whether an organization is
structured to support innovation. (Anklam)
It is true: a lot of innovation is stimulated by a problem or challenge. That's why a socalled "Urgent Request" (UR) process in a community of practice (dedicated to a certain
knowledge or subject area) sometimes produces a real innovation for the community (not just
local pseudo innovation by knowledge sharing). The UR process:
•
question to the community about an issue or problem
•
one or more responses with solutions or links to solutions
•
evaluation and feedback about the feasibility of the response
•
discussion in the community, how to further proceed with the responses, e.g. just store
them or create a combination out of them or develop them jointly into a Best Practice.
Sometimes the solution is created uniquely and new for the problem, i.e. it is a real innovation.
Therefore in one industrial client organization the knowledge manager and the idea manager
have jointly created a direct link between the communities' UR fora and the internal idea and
improvement proposal system, from which he gets e.g. an implementation support and
eventually a recognition/incentive. Thus the employee has not to make such strange
considerations: where to post my idea? To the community or the idea
management organization?
From technology perspective: adaptive community collaboration platforms with workflow
modeling functions like Opentext Livelink can be recommended. (Hofer-Alfeis)
The People and the Environment
1) The need to identify those who could really impulse innovation and change, by answering
these 3 questions about the situation to be changed for each actor: who knows, who can, and
who cares.
2) Changes in behavior are more likely to occur where learners cycle through a variety of
learning experiences, usually including an iteration of action, reflection, conceptualisation and
practice, or combining experimental, presential, propositional, and practical learning. (Source:
IDS, “Knowledge management and organisational learning for development – KM4Dev
Workshop Background Paper”, July 2006, Page 11). (Bucheli)
I wanted to throw in a couple of ideas from a book I am reading. Tipping Point looks at the
question of how social "epidemics" happen. The author identifies 3 types of people who are
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INNOVATING
essential in this process: connectors (those with large social networks), mavens (those who
know all information about a marketplace and share it), and sales people (those who can
convince people to jump on the train). Might be interesting to see what happens if these actors
can be identified and "used" to undertake change initiatives. (Dohrn)
We call the sweet spot-- “Points of Passion, Points of Pain” –PoP. In our work we help our
client partners articulate and agree on these, because they are what create energy to move, to
focus and to use technology. We try to keep them OFF the technology subject, which invariably
derails their main agenda and produces little progress.
Social sector organizations are typically strapped for resources and have the added burden of
answering to funders, program monitors, evaluators, and a range of fiscal agents (for each
funding source). Finding the thing with the highest PoP quotient is a RELIEF and allows them to
choose between many competing demands. Because they are intensely focused by their
passion or pain, both their courage to use new technologies and their tolerance for the vagaries
of technology seem heightened.
When they approach their PoP with new technology they begin a chain of innovation that
changes deeply how they do their work and these new approaches touch everyone they work
with. So innovation is not a mandate…it’s a solution to a very real problem. It’s not
hypothetical –e.g. Wow wiki’s are interesting, what can we use them for? (Though that can be
compelling too) (Woolis)
Facilitating Community Engagement
What would I need to consider in the setup of a virtual community that would promote
social innovation? And behind that is the objective to keep a learning/training group
connected and collaborating when the courses have ended.
I think, for any community you have to check the following success factors:
30
•
Sense and connecting knowledge area: is the joint topic/subject/knowledge area still
important enough for the community members, to spend time and energy for
collaboration? Which are their benefits? Are they coherent enough?
•
Is there a facilitator or moderator available with spirit, experience in the subject and
reliable engagement?
•
Is there enough understanding of the joint subject, similar interests and a comparable
level of proficiency in the community members to set the basis for the community's
identity? Are there no competition barriers?
•
Are adequate collaboration and communication instruments and processes in place
(easy to use, but adapted to the needs of the subject)? (Hofer-Alfeis)
INNOVATING
We have started to experiment with an online innovation "marketplace" software called Inkling
Markets (also referred to as Decision or Prediction Markets). This is a small start-up and they
are allowing us to test out their tools (http://inklingmarkets.com//). It is far from ideal, but it
gives a window to the future where we can better engage the "Wisdom of the Crowds" to help
identify compelling ideas and innovations--and rally people to collaborate around them to take
them to scale. Online Communities I believe will play a big role in enabling us to take social
innovation to scale.
I think the work at www.changemakers.net is also an important model to explore for hosting
innovation challenges, which in turn starts to create innovation markets around specific
challenge areas for the social sector. (Kwaterski)
We are just starting to explore how this application can support online community members to
participate in making decisions and/or choosing what idea is the most innovative. Much like
Changemakers, we are introducing an "innovation challenge" to our community in response to
a common challenge or shared "problem"---for example, what are the most innovative
approaches to promote citizen participation at the local level. If we get 200 submissions and
narrow the field through a panel of judges to say the top 20, then we'd like to see if the
community would be motivated to select the top three. The benefit is that many ideas are
being socialized in the process of rating / choosing.
Still trying to understand the key incentives that are involved to get people to fully participate
in this process--both submitting and rating.
Others are using Inkling to determine the best ideas for action within large institutions. For
example, a US-based university opened up an idea market for its students to help
make decisions around various important proposals for school improvements. (Kwaterski)
Some suggestions for promotion:
1. by community leaders: use highlights on start pages of the site
2. by community members: rate/vote the articles that describe the innovator's
successes.
The rate/vote mechanism has really taken off especially in large communities. This has been
key in sites like YouTube and Digg.com. (Kuo)
For some innovation is or requires organizational change. This is tied to the premise that the
very act of capitalizing on technology requires change and is innovative for an organization.
We've done probably 25-50 projects in large and small organizations, and we've found a couple
of factors that can really mediate for success.
In smaller organizations, THE critical factor seems to be leading from the front. If the team
leader or (in some communities) the "strange attractor" is herself using the collaboration tools
in a consistent and robust manner - and especially NOT replying to emails via email, but posting
responses in the asynch tools (i.e. discussion forums), that seems to really do the trick.
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INNOVATING
In large organizations, we've had very haphazard results - some groups take off and some don't
- but now we're getting much better results by truly starting with a FEA (front end analysis) that
involves all stakeholders (from executive sponsor to participants and their managers in
between), and addresses areas of purpose, people, process, and technology. Bottom line is that
this is a new way of working, learning, and sharing knowledge. From there we do a pretty
robust community launch process that again involves the stakeholders. Without creating a solid
foundation, seems reasonable that results would be pretty haphazard. (Bruck)
Three examples:
Officially sanctioned experiment: to open up the communications and support local
empowerment of UK wide sub-sections/offices within a Division a group of people who used to
issue guidelines and encourage/maintain compliance became instead a help desk to answer
queries. Bright idea from bright manager, backed up the line - because the need was dire and,
ahem, it saved money as some of the management layers were removed. Very successful, much
energised sub-sections. Story told at a meeting, copied immediately in another division.
Subversive 1: one hundred years ago one small team in a large team in a large department in a
large organisation quietly introduced new ICT (dial-up email to GreenNet). People saw and
heard, liked, and the experiment spread. In an international organisation the needs and
benefits were obvious, as was the urgent need for rationalisation and standardisation, which in
turn produced budgets and, eventually, organisation-wide roll-out of a better technical
solution.
Subversive 2: individual in organisation responds to random mushrooming of Flickr groups
(started by small teams, or projects) and grabs organisational group identity. Single-handedly
begins gathering together and showing value of collections. Gained, and gaining, recognition;
lunchtime show&tell; organisation set upon the route to more coherent use of Social
Network/Web2.0 tool. (Cranston)
Organizational Change
Quoting Joanna Macy: "Real learning is not something added, it is a reorganization of the
system. New nets and assemblies occur, loops form, alternate pathways develop. The viewed
world is different and so is the viewer." (Mader)
I think that innovation is about a new way of how to do things, challenging traditional
approaches and presenting new alternatives that work in an efficient manner and bring
solutions, in most of our cases, related to social issues.
I think the biggest challenge here is spreading the word, going back to some of the comments
made before, how can we let other people know that there are tools available for them, expand
their horizons and motivating them to innovate. The innovation aspect I think is very related to
the learning. And what better platform than through COP to promote this and incentivate
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INNOVATING
others to come up with better practices and that most importantly, can be applied within
different cultural and social backgrounds. (Garza)
We have used action research as a means of ongoing evaluation in a virtual workgroup project
we were running using synchronous and asynchronous ICT tools. Everyone found it really useful
and the research stimulated further interest within the participants about the whole concept of
virtual interaction and its potential for social enterprises with limited resources. The main
barriers we encountered were within larger organisations and the whole concept of
organisational change. (Warren)
I work for the Federal government in Canada - a huge organization. When I started, I assumed a
high level of stability, but have over 7 years encountered a lot of change - although not
necessarily innovative or useful! My current activities involve working with 3 other
departments on a joint strategy that coordinates 4 programs. I am the new guy and as is my
nature am asking a lot of questions. Given that, at least from my perspective, organizations are
socially constructed and re-constructed through social interaction, my inquisitive behaviour and
that of others is slowly changing the dynamics of the group interactions.
Why is this? Storytelling and narrative are some ways that people preserve cultures, transmit
values, reaffirm the status quo, etc. However contesting stories and narratives, writing new
narratives (new endings), telling alternative stories, etc. are ways to move the organizational
discourse in a new direction. Thus there are stories told about the interdepartmental strategy
that position people in a positive light, give credit to some people and blame to others, and
establish a future trajectory based on the past. Questioning the stories and their implications is
one way to get people to reconsider their underlying assumptions. In Senge's and other's work
on organizational learning, this is an essential and useful change management technique.
(Gurd)
I was recently talking to teachers who were involved in digital storytelling (a technique in
zeitgeist) and they were saying that this new mode of using technology has given them back
creative control that they felt had been lost in their other forms of online teaching.
How is digital storytelling enabling creativity you ask? The idea is simple - tell a story with
visuals and sound. Its basis is pedagogically rich – storytelling. The technology is now so userfriendly and in teacher hands and control teachers can readily support their learners to use the
process and become creators rather than consumers. (Stuckey)
Gaps in technology
Single sign on: getting rid of all those different usernames and passwords
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenID
Open standards: so I don't have to fill in a new profile on every single site I visit
http://news.com.com/2010-1038_3-6194817.html
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INNOVATING
Good visual tools so I can navigate the content in a community and spot spaces for innovating
at a glance - without wading through seas of text
Things like:
•
Timelines
•
Tag clouds
•
Mindmaps
•
Newsmaps
Not only do they let me navigate information in new ways... but I've found a lot of technology
skeptics have a lot of fun playing around with them - and the realisation then dawns of what
you can do when you capture data online...(Davies)
Despite the rise of Flickr and YouTube, I think online communities are still too dependent on
textual communication, which limits participation to people are comfortable reading and
writing (and typing). Even a 3D space like Second Life still relies a surprising amount on text
chat. (Pinch)
I'm not sure if this matches others experience from working in places with limited connectivity
but it did help me understand how low-bandwidth options for website based communities can't
replace an e-mail interface:
E-mail 'hops' from server-to-server - so it doesn't need a continuous chain of connectivity back
to a server. ..By contrast, with the website-based interaction the chain needs to be complete all
the way. (Davies)
Dgroups is ideal for those with slow, unreliable email connections (www.dgroups.org). It offers
a free, simple email discussion list software that does not require users to access the web at
any stage. We moderate four large discussion groups (HIFA2015, CHILD2015, HIF-net, HR4Dnet) on issues relating to health in developing countries, with a total membership of some 2500
members. I'm personally responsible for moderating HIFA2015 and CHILD2015, with a total of
900-plus members, with majority in developing world (most in Africa, on dial-up connections).
HIFA2015 email group: http://www.dgroups.org/groups/hifa2015
CHILD2015 email group: http://www.dgroups.org/groups/child2015 (Packenham-Walsh)
I wouldn't say I think this is something missing from community technology but I do think the
IM aspect is under-used. One of the major barriers is a lack of social awareness and IM is
something so simple which can help overcome this. (You can enter) a room and see someone
there whom you know and with whom you can just go and have a chat. I haven't been able to
get onto this jam this afternoon until now because the phone has kept ringing - and this is not
uncommon for anyone. Things that are immediate and 'in your face' take priority and might
mean that you do not go and seek out a contact whereas when you enter the 'room' and see a
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INNOVATING
contact you have the opportunity to say 'hi' - and we all know how much good can come out of
ad hoc spontaneous conversation.
As regards Skype webcams … a friend of mine from a major Swiss pharmacy company (who) is
in communications … was telling me that the IT department refuses to allow Skype and IM. I
fear this is typical of too many IT departments who forget that they are there to support the
business needs and become a little power crazy. It's a mindset that we need to get over.
In my own small company we cope with the security issues and enjoy the benefits of free video
conferencing (and IM functionality) with contacts all over the world. (Hildreth)
I'm also fascinated by the concepts in the Tipping Point as they relate to social change, and
particularly virtual communities. … I find myself very often lurking on many lists rather than
being an active participant, but still find them incredibly useful. I wonder if those people who
are very active posters to an online community can be considered self-selected mavens or
salespeople, or if more active effort should be put into identifying those key people who might
be lurking in a community. (Lowery)
…And even with better technology, online/offline permeability is critical to effective
engagement and therefore to innovation.
One of my biggest concerns with online communities is how it reaches those with limited
access to the Web. Having a slow, expensive, unreliable connection to the Internet seems like it
would really hamper any type of interaction that really required people to be sitting online for
big chunks of their day. Does anyone know of technologies that help alleviate this problem, e.g.,
low bandwidth solutions, Web-email-SMS integration, etc.? (Lowery)
In places where access to the web and telephone is difficult, rural communities isolated from
major cities, people use local radios, bulletin boards, send messages through a human chain
(person to person)... now also by cell phones ... and they keep connected. All these are also
resources that can complement the interaction needed to strengthen a virtual community...
sometimes we forget them. (Bucheli)
I think we often forget about those offline interactions that can really complement a online
community. In fact, I think oftentimes the online community is just the tip of the iceberg, as
those with access share their learnings with people in their organizations/communities that
don't. As a simple example, Pambazuka News, an email newsletter on social justice issues in
Africa, believes that for every subscriber to their newsletter, another 8 people are actually
getting the information as its forwarded on, printed out, passed around, etc. (Lowery)
I agree with all that has been said about tools and approaches that help online communities and I loved the Tipping Point connection, since most of the good ones have active mavens and
networkers. However, most of the online communities I belong to are made up of people
comfortable using text based systems - including email - which generally implies
semi/professional, post-school educated and able to afford e-connections. The full continuum
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INNOVATING
of options from the whizziest blogwikifest end of the continuum to the re-invented Lyris list end
represented by d-groups excludes more than it includes, both South and North.
We know that in many part of the world, across sectors, Radio and Mobiles are the ICT at the
moment offer the most potential (for example, our research into ICT & small scale Fisheries) http://www.sflp.org/briefs/eng/09.pdf) I am interested in approaches that attempt to bridge
the gaps with community level activities. For example, http://www.linkinglearners.net/ links
people along agricultural product supply chains in East Africa.
There is considerable face-face activity, both mediated and independent.
Mobile phones play a key role in the linking of the people along the chains.
The programme attempts to capture innovation into an online environment that most of us
recognise - a Lotus Notes discussion group - which, along with the web interface, links into the
infomediary layer in which many of us operate. (Cranston)
To have dramatic impact innovation must be leveraged; that is, ideas must be shared broadly
and widely available for adoption and adaptation:
The problem that I face is identifying the innovators that are having success (say an NGO
somewhere in Kenya dealing with a different approach to education) and then promoting them
to others that might benefit from that knowledge.
I keep thinking there must be a form of e-bay that could be used to bring the innovators to the
top through 360 feedback by peers, funders, and recipients. (Samuels)
36
INNOVATING
LEARNING
“Good teachers can do amazing
things with chalk.”
Bronwyn Stuckey
38
LEARNING
Overview
Educational Contexts
Learning in online communities occurs in formal (schools, universities, training situations)
and informal (organizational, cross-organizational, community) settings. Learning, more and
more, also takes place in the context of electronic technology.
From LMSs to PLEs
In more formal educational settings, early implementers used learning management
systems (LMSs) such as BlackBoard and WebCT. As with knowledge management in general,
which first focused on trying to manage the knowledge in organizations and then moved to
a more communication, people-oriented approach, these early educational course tools are
moving to more learner-centered, student-oriented approaches with Virtual Learning
Environments (VLEs) and Personal Learning Environments (PLEs). Learning Management
Systems recreate the lecture hall approach, with the instructor controlling the path and with
a closed audience of students. With the new approach, learning in educational settings is
evolving from a controlled learning experience to a community of learners who manage
their own learning and interact with the rest of the world. The trend is from instruction to
learning. Michael Hotrum paints a picture of what he would like to see “a freebase journey
where students dip into and out of formal learning experiences, meld it with their own
informal and nonformal experiences, work life and social life and maintain a record of
reflections, connections and artefact development over the time of their lifelong continuous
learning.”
E-Portfolios
With regard to this record of reflections, e-Portfolios are also making inroads into the
learning experience. E-portfolios use video and text to present the learner’s
accomplishments and path. They can be used in Communities of Practice in many settings,
although the primary use at present seems to be in educational institutions. Digital storytelling is another use of digital technology for workshops and classes. With ePortfolios and
digital story-telling, the learners benefit in many ways: they capture and present their
learning stories and artifacts, they learn the presentation/publishing process, and they see
themselves presented in media as accomplished students. This last, according to Gail
Mellow, President of LaGuardia Community College, a college of students who are “mostly
low-income and racial/ethnic "minority" groups in the US, “changes (the students”)
conceptualization of who a college student is … It has also provided a fabulous opportunity
for their college-level work to be easily shared with family, both demystifying college and
allowing family members in other countries to easily see their work as well.”
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LEARNING
Focus on the Learning Process
Whatever tools are used, Brenda Buchelli reminded readers to remember that the learning
process is a process which includes “action, reflection, conceptualization, and practice.
Others cautioned as well to stay focused on the learning process and not get caught up in
the technology. As Bronwyn Stuckey put it, “Good teachers can do amazing things with
chalk.”
Learning Technology
The features identified as critical in a basic online community technology are:
Ability to participate through e-mails
•
Urgent request process
•
Ability to subscribe
•
Digests
•
Knowledge capture
•
Document storage
•
Archiving capability
In thinking about technology wishes, participants debated as to whether to wish for an off
the shelf product that answers all needs or a “technological buffet of tools” which interface
easily with each other. One of the difficulties with the buffet approach is the difficulty of
managing and assisting students in using a variety of technologies in a decentralized
environment.
40
LEARNING
Verbatims
Definitions
Techno-social organizational structures for people collaborating to reach a specific and timelimited goal, who use the online medium as a critical tool to accomplish work. (Restler)
CoPs are separate from teams, which have duration and an explicit goal. A community is the
organizational result of a knowledge area, which brings together humans, who are interested to
share knowledge in this area and to further develop it, i.e. "incremental innovation". (HoferAleis)
Drivers and goals
Information sharing: organizations are attracted by the ease, low cost and speed of posting
docs and links of all kinds. They are also buoyed by the idea of people coming forward to share
their knowledge and help one another solve problems and develop innovative ideas or policies.
(Restler)
Coordination: (where information sharing is a part of that) setting up meetings, coordination
action items, information sharing in the context of work tasks. (Fidelman)
The top goal of the community is to improve the knowledge in the [interested] area by
proficiency building, knowledge diffusion (networking/collaborating) and codification
(describing into information). (Hofer-Alfeis)
Conditions to be in existence
People both seek and supply information (their own experience and resources that they value)
when they are engaged in work that is of value to them. (Restler)
The community exists as long as the knowledge area is important to its members (and their
organizations). (Hofer-Alfeis)
Tools
A very well accepted "learning tool" in a community is an "Urgent Request" process
41
•
question to the community about an issue or problem
•
one or more responses with solutions or links to solution
•
evaluation and feedback about the feasibility of the response
LEARNING
•
discussion in the community how to further proceed with the responses, e.g. just
store them or create a combination out of them or develop them jointly into a
Best Practice
The critical point is that the question-answer-feedback discussion keeps on going in the
community’s joint Urgent Request Forum and does not disappear into bi-lateral activities. This
is something the community facilitator has to care about.
From the technology perspective the community collaboration platform should support the
Urgent Request Process with easy to understand workflows. (Hofer-Alfeis)
Shared calendar (Fidelman)
E-mail is certainly a key component of online community - or at least some sort of way of
allowing users to aggregate and track their interaction with a community without constantly
having to visit a site and log-in to check what has been going on. For me, the ideal community
needs:
a.) A way of messages being exchanged
b) A way of every user being able to choose how they want to interact with those
messages
c) A way of archiving messages and the knowledge captured in them in a way that
makes it easy to find things later on / pick up old threads at a later date when they
become relevant
So
1) I could choose to only come to a site / mailing list archive to view what is going on and
post via an online interface
2) I could choose to get a daily/weekly digest of content sent to me via e-mail giving me a
wrap-up view of what's been going on
3) I could get a copy of every message as it is posted coming to me via e-mail
4) I could subscribe to an RSS feed of the messages and keep track of conversations in my
feed reader
What [mailing lists systems] often don't do is capture the information the flows through them
in anything other than a linear history - and they are often quite weak on letting me find pastinformation that has been shared (Davies)
I'm a total wiki fan. I've used wikis in varied situations - it's a great way to gather collective
wisdom, and as a reference and resource that is "live" data - easy to update and change. … a
wiki [can] rock - people who didn't get to be involved could contribute, and it's a great medium
for information exchange. That said, wikis do need work and "gardening" - to keep them well
organized. (Murrain)
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LEARNING
Learning in the Context of Social Innovation
What Does It Mean?
It is the ongoing, everyday informal learning augmented by more structured learning on an asneeded basis. The emphasis for innovation is in the former. How do we
•
have networks we can tap into for informal learning (including knowledge sharing) – in
other words PEOPLE!!
•
have skills to make our informal learning useful over time – networking, researching,
reflective thinking, writing, storytelling, conversation, dialog ,etc.
•
have tools to help facilitate the artifacts and interactions of our learning, like what some
people call “personal learning environments” or PLEs, blogging, social bookmarking, etc.
•
create time for informal learning – which is a REAL issue in international development
where from a staff or activist perspective, we are always focusing on action which may
make us blind to the fact that learning is an aspect of action. (White)
Online learning creates discussion, interaction e.g. students and teacher, participants and their
facilitator, sharing of ideas and asking question. There are e-learning programmes which allow
students/ or participants to learn on their own at a convenient time and allows facilitators to
evaluate the outcome (Amadu)
Learning Institutions and Their Methods
… what I see in our learning institutions is learning for the past century, modeled on the
industrial era and not supportive or generative of the type of learning needed in the social
sector.… The innovation is happening in, but also very strongly OUTSIDE the academy. Look at
the work of George Siemens, Jay Cross,Stephen Downes, Will Richardson, Alan Levine, Darren
Kuropatwa and countless others. Where are they doing their learning and sharing? Where is
that duality of reification and participation?...In their personal blogs. In their "twitters"
(http://www.twitter.com ). In their unconferences and side gatherings beside formal meetings.
(White)
…But they have some instructional technologies they use, as well as some methods and
practices around distributed and online learning that we might learn from and apply
productively. (Woolis)
… There will always need to be some level of instruction about an issue or topic no matter what
the focus of the community is. There are instructional design concepts that can be employed to
facilitate information sharing. (D. Williams)
I did some work in Rwanda on HIV/AIDS policy and strategy, and was really impressed with the
way children in Catholic schools engaged the church hierarchy in what was an exchange of
stories - unscripted 'raw', what Boje calls ante-narratives: which is where I get the notion
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LEARNING
of ante-formal knowledge from - knowledge that hasn’t been formalised, yet. Previous
attempts to confront the church's policy led nowhere. (R. Williams)
… I just finished, for the past two or three days, following an online dialogue of adult education
practitioners who were talking about "job-embedded professional development." (relate to
situated learning) The educators participating in this conversation ARE in learning institutions
and have moved away from "learning for the past century." I kind of stumbled across this, but it
gave me hope and I reminded myself that this IS how change takes place - by groups of people
who move to a different place and then the impact makes its way into the more mainstream
arenas. These educators were not doing professional development by bringing the instructors
into a classroom to listen to a developed curriculum, they were sharing and learning together
and were having facilitators who were going into the learning places and helping groups of
instructors LEARN together...and then the practice of doing this was being shared in an online
environment… I think it is important to note some changes in learning that meet your (Nancy’s)
so-well articulated four bullets of learning. (Kaulback)
I think it's helpful to avoid making broad generalizations about educational institutions, and
more helpful to be specific. I'm based at LaGuardia Community College in New York City, where
I think we're doing some interesting things with the use of interactive media in an educational
context. (Eynon)
Tools and Platforms
Technology is sometimes used most effectively as an element of a broader dynamic that
includes conversation, research, creative work, exchange, reflection, etc…. For me, the bottom
line is that the technology itself is not a solution – it’s the technology used creatively and
insightfully, in service of important goals. (Eynon)
[E-portfolios) are about capture and carry. These are the artifacts or reifications of my learning
and they belong to me and travel with me wherever I go – learning institutions, work, personal,
etc. They are demonstration of my learning journey for others as well. Good value there. But
where is the practice part of it?.…What e-portfolio’s miss is the other half of the dyad of
learning: participation… The act of learning needs a back and forth between the doing and the
capturing of the doing. E-portfolios are brilliant at capturing the reification. They don’t really
provide hooks fro the participation but beyond others being able to comment on our artifacts.
(White)
… I am interested in the idea of using technologies like e-portfolio to advance storytelling
methodologies using text and video… real time stories and user generated multi-media posting
to the internet is a methodological innovation that we haven't yet harnessed…
… real time tagged video posts should be of great use to scientists of various disciplines. To
Nancy's point about the use of blogs which incorporate video/audio/text with content tagged
around a certain topic and then aggregated serving our purpose - I think they can for particular
issues or events such as Tsunami. But for larger questions in learning environments that are not
event or discrete, content focused, we might think about how to contextualize what is posted
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LEARNING
and tag or label in real time before aggregating. This is where a tool such as e-portfolio, which i
am only somewhat familiar with, might support something with an assigned context (e.g.,
issues facing international students in the US) and contained data base for analysis. (James)
… I love the idea of e-portfolios that have video. It would be great to allow individuals to "show"
and see each other as they share their best practices. Maybe a community e-portfolio could
serves as the larger context of learning and create new ways of building knowledge networks.
Rather than capture and carry they are about sharing and co-creating. (Woolis)
Two examples of proven e-portfolios in CoPs in the jointly used community workspace come to
my mind:
•
•
•
folders with well-described knowledge asset documents like best practices or templates
for assessments
knowledge maps assigning instruments or detailed proceedings to process steps: basis is
a jointly defined rough structure, e.g. a standardized process. Community members add
their "good practices" to the related process steps with coordinates of the
owner/expert, links to related community/organization and links to documented
knowledge (which could be on any kind of media). Based on such "instrument
catalogues" the community members selected instruments to be discussed in detail in
knowledge transfer sessions. (Hofer-Alfeis)
... Our approach to ePortfolio emphasizes the importance of integrating visual creativity,
so that as they develop their skills students have increased opportunities to create rich
visual representations of their evolving identities as learners and emerging
professionals. Surprisingly many of the commercial platforms for ePortfolio do NOT
allow for this. If folks want to incorporate any kind of sophisticated web authoring in
your ePortfolio, I would encourage you to check this out carefully before you select a
system. (Eynon)
… I’ve observed some other key aspects of the way in which technology promotes deep and
important learning among our students that I'd like to point out. One is that our students -mostly low-income and from racial/ethnic "minority" groups in the US -- do not have the
opportunity to see themselves represented in the media as college students. The ePortfolio
changes that, and makes their own life experience a central narrative of the educational
process. It changes their conceptualization of who a college student is when they see
themselves and their classmates. It has also provided a fabulous opportunity for their
college-level work to be easily shared with family, both demystifying college and allowing
family members in other countries to easily see their work as well. A great barrier to
academic success for our students is their inability to study full-time because they must also
work and make a living. The ePortfolio becomes an intellectual scaffold that holds their
learning, reflection, goals (and sometimes even dreams) in ways unlike any I have seen
before. (Mellow)
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LEARNING
… when community college students are able to present themselves to their communities
and families through their work, and see themselves as budding professionals. The impact is
ENORMOUS for people who rarely see positive, upwardly mobile images of themselves in
any form of media in the US. The contribution to identity development and psychosocial
benefits far exceed what the technology intended, but it's there. A fine example of the clash
of technology with human depth. (James)
Having Time for Informal Learning
Few leaders (policy/program/organization) today use or use well/deeply collaborative
technologies. What might it take for this to change? Is it in part demonstrating the pay-offs to
productive online community work? (Restler)
We have the intersection of a number of things that demonstrate pay off.
1. Clear goal of innovation and creation driven by more traditional research goals. So a
blend that recognizes the roots of the community in the old and need for innovation
and change in the new.
2. Reward structure that supports knowledge sharing
3. Technology structure that makes data sharing easy and transparent (see their website).
4. A focus on the network: This is as much or more about the network than any online
community. In fact, sometimes we may be going down the wrong path when we only
focus on online community. (White)
For me the lament that "I just don't have time for this" is a reflection of two things: the obvious
speeding up of everything in the workplace, and a self protection mechanism we've created
called "sorry, I can't help, I'm too busy." The other factor is an uncertainty among people on
what's important resulting in everything having the same priority. What can we do when we are
faced the "I'm too busy" lament? My inclination is to concentrate on the priorities issue.
(Callahan)
People and Pedagogies
Changes in behavior are more likely to occur where learners cycle through a variety of learning
experiences, usually including an iteration of action, reflection, conceptualisation and practice,
or combining experimental, presential, propositional, and practical learning. (Source: IDS,
“Knowledge management and organisational learning for development – KM4Dev Workshop
Background Paper”, July 2006, Page 11). (Bucheli)
… the software is not social - people and pedagogies are. So reflecting on our learners needs,
the pedagogy that will best support their learning within that particular domain, and then the
tools that can enable that is they way we need to go. The trouble with institutional tools is they
start with the tool - the LMS (learning management system) and these tools constrain the
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LEARNING
pedagogical choices and do not encourage teachers to innovate and think outside of the forum,
file upload and chat they may have at hand. (Stuckey)
Examples and Links
About PLE’s (Personal Learning Environments) (White)
•
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_personal_learning_environments
Personal Learning Environments are systems that help learners take control of and manage
their own learning. This includes providing support for learners to
•
•
•
•
•
•
set their own learning goals
manage their learning; managing both content and process
communicate with others in the process of learning and thereby achieve learning goals.
A mind map of one guy's PLE http://simslearningconnections.com/ple/ray_ple.html
Some reflections on PLEs in a blog - http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/ple
Commentary http://blog.simslearningconnections.com/?p=63
Commentary - note both the blog post and comments about the power structures
compared between PLEs and organizationally driven learning environments
http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2007/03/why-i-love-ples-and-hate-vles-or-lmss.html
LaGuardia Community College in New York City (Eynon)
1) Our ePortfolio project: We have been experimenting with ePortfolio on a very
substantial scale, and have built one of the larger ePortfolio projects in US higher
education. You can check out our informational site at
http://www.eportfolio.lagcc.cuny.edu Be sure to look at the sample portfolios in the
Gallery (http://www.eportfolio.lagcc.cuny.edu/advanced_gallery.html) and in ePortfolio
Scholars section http://www.eportfolio.lagcc.cuny.edu/scholars/participants.html.
2) Our Digital Storytelling work: We've also been playing with digital storytelling work,
and this site (http://www.laguardia.edu/ctl/dstory/default.htm) was created to serve as
a resource for workshops and classes involving digital storytelling. While more and more
of our ePortfolios integrate digital video of some sort, we're still working on ways to
bring the digital storytelling and ePortfolio projects together in a more seamless fashion.
3) Our Designed For Learning program: This faculty seminar program, which as been
running for 7 years, helps faculty engage in a year-long process of exploring the junction
of interactive pedagogy and interactive technology. The program site is
http://www.laguardia.edu/ctl/dfl/default.htm An essay entitled Pedagogies of
Engagement (at http://faculty.lagcc.cuny.edu/ctl/dfl/sampler/intro.htm) gives some
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LEARNING
overview of the approach. And a collection of websites created by faculty
http://www.laguardia.edu/ctl/facwebprojects/default.htm gives a sense of one facet of
the project.
Visual Complexity www.visualcomplexity.com (R. Williams)
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LEARNING
Global Jam on Technology Requirements
for Social Innovation
LEADING
Do not confuse leadership for social change with
"leadership” of a hierarchy…
Conor O'Brien
National and international organizations want to put their
own 'spin' on reports, or choose to limit distribution of
reports. Creating online communities and e-conferences
allows the SMEs (Subject Matter Experts), activists and
interested individuals access to a point that many top-down
organizations are not that comfortable. …decisions
continue to be made at the top with little public dialogue
and simultaneously (we have) the development of all sorts of
Web 2.0 tools in which anyone can create blogs, flickr
galleries or a collective wiki.
Ron Mader
50
Overview
Organizational Redefinition
The ability to engage groups in online communities is having an impact on organizations, on the
leaders of them and on leadership itself. Online communities, in making time and distance
irrelevant and in replacing the control over knowledge with collective intelligence, are
redefining traditional organizational structures. The result of that organizational redefinition is
still developing, albeit in the direction of flatter and less hierarchical organizations. In this
regard, Woolis wonders what a “napsterized” philanthropy sector would look like?
Organizational Leadership
In considering organizational leadership, posters in this thread also suggest some of the new
leadership characteristics replacing the command and control model: distributed, situational,
and shared leadership. Trying to impose the old command and control style of leadership in this
new environment is as effective as “herding cats.”(Roberts) Qualities of good leadership in a
networked environment include being visionary and nimble.
Some participants express reservations about the extent of the change desired in leadership
responsibility, suggesting that while online communities offer leaders knowledge in the form of
opinion-sharing, decision-making should remain in the organizational leader’s hands. (Marour)
Others speculate about whether “collective emergent decision-making” might be possible.
(O’Brien) The iterative process of texts/ideas/proposals offers possibilities for more
effectiveness and more efficiency. (Williams) We currently have two trends operating
independently that need to meet - “the fortification of the 'old boy's network' in which
decisions continue to be made at the top with little public dialogue and simultaneously the
development of all sorts of Web 2.0 tools in which anyone can create blogs, flickr galleries or a
collective wiki.” (Mader)
Community Leadership
Support and guidance for the online community, or community leadership, was also deliberated
and several concepts and metaphors were offered. Morgan Sully offers that, while
organizational leaders are gardeners, community leaders are cross-pollinating bees. Jen Hunter
suggests servant leadership (a la Robert Greenleaf) as a good model for this role and harkens
back to the metaphor suggested by Etienne Wenger in “Cultivating Communities of Practice,” in
which the community leader creates a place for the community to flourish and then tends, or
cultivates, the “plants.” Nancy White suggests that community technology stewardship “is a
critical skill” in this regard.
51
LEADING
Other Matters
Other threads that emerged in the discussion of leadership include the desire for a good
collaborative editing tool and unhappiness with the wiki in this regard. (Fidelman) And, as in
other threads in this Global Jam, cautions about the continued need for face-to-face interaction
are strong. Participants advocate for a blended format with online communities extending
connections between face-to-face encounters.
Verbatims
Redefining Organization
Are we having a crisis in our identity? (Bucheli)
Online communities and collaboration tools call into question the fundamental structure of
organizations today. Are they a community, network, ecosystem, or complex adaptive systems?
The dynamics of these new organizational structures are wholly different from traditional, place
based structures.
Where conference call and video conferencing technologies changed but did not revolutionize
organizations, online communities may. (Restler)
For example, time and distance are not particularly relevant; local action can be immediately
amplified and multiplied; collective intelligence can be corralled and focused and makes the
whole smarter and faster than any single leader; leaders emergence in situ.
Bottom line is that this is a new way of working, learning, and sharing knowledge. (Bruck)
In a mature online community (as with much of nature) there is robust clarity, simplicity and
self-organizing that occurs when a community of passionate people want to move their "Work
(field, domain, etc.)" forward. (Hunter)
Leadership in a Networked World
“Distributing leadership… has really not been possible, in a deep way, until collaborative
technologies were created” (Woolis)
Inherent in the discussion was the assumption that technology both created the opportunity and
need for new leadership models. Several were advanced including: distributed, shared,
situational, and emergent. New leadership models call for new set of job responsibilities for
leaders.
Do networks/communities have the equivalent of middle managers? If so who are they and
what do they do?
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LEADING
Servant Leadership
Servant-Leadership is a practical philosophy which supports people who choose to serve first,
and then lead as a way of expanding service to individuals and institutions. Servant-leaders
may or may not hold formal leadership positions. Servant-leadership encourages collaboration,
trust, foresight, listening, and the ethical use of power and empowerment (Hunter)
Shared Leadership
I have seen very successful networks that work on the notion of a core group of leadership……
(Anklam)
Distributed Leadership
Leadership embraces the power of a diversity of ideas, prizes dialogue over mandate, expertise
over authority, and promotes an understanding of context for improving decision-making.
(Woolis)
Emergent Leadership
An interesting effect of the use of online communities is that new leadership can rapidly
emerge, (Masrour)
One question that arises from this is the extent to which "grass roots" initiatives can exist
without senior management buy-in? Or indeed, without proper alignment to what senior
management view as the organization's strategy?
Collective emergent decision making ( Clarke)
Complexity…can provide the room for new modes of interaction, leadership, etc to emerge… its
useful to identify (and 'name') new 'affordances' in new complex adaptive systems. (Williams)
The New Work of Leaders
The "strange attractor" is herself using the collaboration tools in a consistent and robust
manner - and especially NOT replying to emails via email, but posting responses in the asynch
tools (i.e. discussion forums),that seems to really do the trick. (Bruck)
Leading for or with online communities requires a skill set that includes—distributing leadership,
stewardship (technology, knowledge, data), network proficiency, and community building.
Match top down strategies with bottom-up grassroots initiatives. And vice-versa. (Mader)
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LEADING
Vision
Leading a community also has to do with having clearness about where the group, organization
is going, what is their role in society. (Bucheli)
Derive a knowledge strategy from org strategy (Hofer-Alfeis)
Digital Nimbleness
You can lead in different ways, but sometimes the ground gives way beneath you, and a good
leader must be able to make the right jump. (Williams)
Network Proficiency
Where we desperately need leadership is not in the development of a new 'solution' but rather
an engaging dialogue that insists donors and development agencies expand their rolodex and
re-invent the ways they communicate about the issues they care about. (Mader)
the role of organizational leader is one of garden keeper- ensures that the things run smoothly,
makes sure all the plants and flowers of ideas can flourish with the proper nutrients and
watering systems. The role of community leader, they might perhaps be as bees, making sure
that the ideas pollinate well from flower to flower, indeed producing hybrids of ideas (where
the neat stuff REALLY starts to happen). (Sully)
Community Building: Trust, Reputation, and Facilitation
Stewardship
It is also… very important for the leader to understand what technologies are the most
appropriate… (Anklam)
Self directed data collection and analysis. One of the ways of getting people involved is to get
them to go and fetch their own data, and then work with it - asking increasingly more complex
questions. (Williams)
It seems to me that often this role and developing a partnership with the organizational leader
is neglected and then only too late in the game is the impact of this neglect realized. Imagine a
farmer not tending to their crops for months on end... it really is a crazy thought! Perhaps this
offers a valuable perspective and begs a question: Why isn't this important relationship tended
to and nurtured as a priority by both partners? Perhaps this is part of our more traditional
mindset of top-down leadership... the person reporting to ... REPORTS! On the role of
community leader - I don't think the bee image is quite full enough to embody the many rights
and responsibilities of the community leaders. (Hunter)
54
LEADING
A leadership group, then you can have a person in that group who is responsible for or "owns
the listening" for the technology stewardship (Anklam)
Leaders - and people in general- need a face-to-face interaction in order to build trust (Tejada)
We are attempting to recruit staff who are field based workers to help us with our knowledge
management and community build initiatives AND asking senior management to send out
multiple messages about their support. This two pronged approach is due to both the cultural
differences we have to take into account and because of the logistics it takes for two of us at
the Home Office level to coordinate sharing among staff in 40 countries. (Bouchard Bradbury)
Leadership Development
Two strategies can be inferred from the discussion. The first calls for motivating current leaders
deploy online communities by integrating them into day-to-day work. The second calls for
identifying and cultivating individuals who emerge as leaders as a consequence of online work.
Emergent leaders gain trust and build reputation because they are a reliable source of high
quality knowledge, they share knowledge openly and widely, they seek feedback and input and
they incorporate new knowledge. Their knowledge is therefore always fresh.
What are the transformative experiences (small to large) that leaders can have to recognize the
value of new lenses on collaboration (tech and practice). (White)
What is the value of using communities online in terms of developing people? Can we have
better or different outcomes when we are physically not in the same room? Do the resources
gained when people do not have to travel to the same location to experience collective learning
offset the value of face-to-face dialogue? (Thayer)
Return on Investment
The pay-off is that it’s much more efficient. (Williams)
Community leaders and volunteers struggle mightily with the process of making meaning out of
the data. (Goldstine-Cole)
Leadership development is not about training, per se, but about interacting with others on
challenging issues that call for leadership, practicing the skills of leadership, and solving
problems. It is also about developing the interpersonal skills of communication. Can that be
done online? (Thayer)
Reputations are built up by those who make regular useful contributions, not from holding a
leadership position. (Roberts)
Understand what’s new, what’s innovative, and why the change (which can be scary) is an
opportunity. (Williams)
Building trust is much easier to establish in person… F2F interaction also promotes a stronger
sense of responsibility on behalf of the community participants. (Maron)
55
LEADING
Targeting people within there comfort zone to get things done outside of it. (Clarke)
How to get the people in leadership involved in issues of online communities and their
technologies? (Hofer-Alfeis)
What are the most effective ways to support, nurture and grow community leaders -- and why
do we seem to place such little emphasis here as a society? What mental models plague or hold
back our thinking on this front? Is it the often quoted assumption that leaders are born, not
made? (Hunter)
Technology and Leadership
Which comes first? What is the proper relationship between leader and technology? Does
technology drive how we lead or do leaders drive how technology will e used? Is there a right
answer?
There IS something inherent in the technology itself…Many-to-many asynchronous
conversation … fundamentally changes the dynamics of group communications and
relationships. (Roberts)
Might be something 'in' the technology, but the question is: what is it? I think its an affordance,
but that’s not the most important point. (Williams)
being able to follow, that is to recognize (as you did) when something is emerging from the
grass roots of an organization and being adopted outside the purview of the "official IT
platform", embracing it, and channeling it without trying to "manage it" Patty Anklam
Media might be used to make the mundane tasks of an organisation more interesting, and so
more productive - and less mundane! Michael Clarke
The Next Frontier
56
•
Accountability in a networked world
•
Napsterized Philanthropy
•
Leading Social Innovation Knowledge Markets
LEADING
THE TECHNOLOGY ANALYSIS
How to enable the street and the land to
connect their shared reality and longings into a
common purpose; so that …(it is) they
themselves and not just interlocutors such as us
that "Speak truth to power"
O’Brien
Overview
There were several tools mentioned and for different environments and objectives. The group
that volunteered to go deeper in this analysis was Bronwyn St, Lynn McDonald, Aimee Maron,
Doris Reeves and Jennifer Morfín. As overwhelming as the information might have been, the
main deliverable of the group is a Google spreadsheet with three components –
1. a list of current tools with other information included: tool Name, tool type, service or
software, functionality, application, price, benefits & narrative, drawbacks & narrative,
contacts who discussed technology and finally some resources, examples or links.
2. a summary of our process and findings,
3. A wish list for future technologies.
We also created a concept map of the wish list for technology you can see below.
58
TECHNOLOGY ANALYSIS
Findings, Recommendations, Action Steps
The spreadsheet was created with the intention of future work and analysis. It seems (see the
Appendix or full spreadsheet for details), that the tools mentioned where very diverse, but for
the type that were most mentioned was for Networking Analysis, several were for content
managing systems, many for RSS Feed Reader, Wikis, Blogs, e-portfolio and list servs. Most of
them are services or free software, having some of them doing a combination of the entire
above but with financial costs to cover.
It was interesting to find the wish list with a combination of wishful features combining what
current tools can do. Most importantly the affordable issue, thus the preference for free or
open source options and the needs to find the easiest platform with all the features combined.
A very important finding is to beware of the background and context of where you want to use
each tool, and that there is no perfect option for everything. Experiences need to have a certain
limit of region, language and circumstances to be able to compare, and in each experience the
leader or implementer needs to have different options to have a successful community of
practice, learning community or network.
In order to have a more accurate analysis, there is a need to continue to feed information into
the spreadsheet and experiences mentioned. It is a useful baseline, but that needs serious
nourishment and polishing with the commitment of professional practitioners that need to
giving feedback to this thematic group or COP.
This mind map and analysis can take us the conclusion that the JAM was very productive in
terms of opening the opportunity to share all the knowledge around, and to prove that 2 days is
time to give examples of the tip of the icebergs and that we need to provide time and space to
be able to rescue all the valuable experiences in each participant and that we need to do it in a
way that is VERY easy to learn and share in a local way…first to our own list and community,
globally and then to apply it locally.
Let’s JAM in different regions, languages, passionate topics, and continue the feedback to this
global event. This Spreadsheet and analysis is the draft. Let’s all contribute to have a final paper
with all the knowledge we can give!
59
TECHNOLOGY ANALYSIS
Appendix - chart of all technologies referred to, ideally in some categorical framework
#
Tool Type
Tool Name
Service
or
Software
Price
1
Authentication
Open ID
Service
Celsias.com
2
Blog
Civiblog
Service
Free
3
Calendaring
Google Calendar
Service
Free
Drupal
Software
open source
Joomla
Software
open source
Opentext Livelink
open source
Software
open source
4
Plone CMS
Content Management
System (CMS)
Tomoye Simplify
Software
Expensive
5
Discussion Boards
Software
open source
Software
free or shareware
Yahoo Groups
Service
Free
Mahara
Software
Free - open source
Dgroups
Mailman,
Majordomo
6
7
8
Email listserv
E-portfolio
Open Source Portfolio
Initiative with Sakai.
Software
Financial and banking
Paypal
Service
Free for most client transactions
Ideagoras
Investment
9
Sympa,
www.Marketocracy.com Service
Learning Management
System (LMS)
Moodle
Flickr
Software
Open source
Service
Free
Service
Free
SlideShare
10 Media Collaboration
YouTube
11 Metasearch engine
KartOO
Online
innovation
"predictions
12 marketplace"
Inkling Markets.
Service
Online
Innovation
13 Community
InnoCentive
Service
Google Docs
Service
Free
Google Office
Service
Free
WebCT vs. Caucus
Software
Free-Caucus
Zoho Projects
Service
Free for one project
Camp Fire now
Service
Google Reader
Service
xFruits
Service
CollectiveX
Service
Free
Facebook
Service
Free
LinkedIn
Service
Free
Mobile Twitter
Service
Free
Twitter
Service
Free
cost
telecommunication
19 Social Networking
Yack pack
Service
20 Social Platform
Elgg
Software
open source
21 Software Development
Source Forge
22 Teleconference
Skype
Service
Free application - telephony at different
rates free- to commercial
23 Virtual World
Second Life
Service
Free to use - large cost to host an island
24 Web site brokerage
Changemakers.com
Service
14 Online Productivity
Personal
Learning
15 Environments (PLE)
16 Project management
Free
17 RSS Feed Reader
18 Simulation games
Ning
61
for
SMS
and
TECHNOLOGY ANALYSIS
Wetpaint
Service
Free
Pbwiki
Service
Free
25 Wiki
Zoho Wiki
Service
Free
26
NPOGroups
27
SharePoint
28
Visual Complexity
Wikispaces
Free
Tools and Technologies
Moodle, Wikis, Internet cafes and wireless hotspots: Lao and Thai High School teachers
learn how to use Moodle and Wikis for an EON/ Living Classroom project - 2004 linking
High Schools in the Mekong with a Media Wiki engine. EON has made use of internet cafes
to provide existing infrastructure, negotiates rates for blocks of time for usage. There is
plenty of scope to use existing technology more innovatively. (Eyles)
Collaboration
(In) an online wiki and discussion board that was used to develop a philanthropic strategy
focused on reducing nitrogen pollution… https://nitrogen.packard.org/default.aspx. … we
decided to use SharePoint because it suited our needs and the Packard Foundation was already
using MOSS internally. This option was much cheaper than a custom-built wiki, and easier to set
up than open source options.
We have experience also with Drupal and I believe it's a very powerful CMS. But, somehow
local users understand better Joomla administration. ..it would be great if YouTube offered low
bandwidth versions of their videos too, considering that it still isn´t a broadband world after all.
Trying to explain something to someone by using an online video, and saying "wait 20 minutes
and you´ll see" is not a very user friendly experience. (Bejar from Ecuador)
Wikis
Wikis are great! We use them to share documents and ideas, and to invite people to post
their own questions and thoughts. The only down side I find on wikis is that it´s hard to
customize them to make them look less than a wiki. Sure you can change the logo, but it
still looks like the Wikipedia with another logo. (Bejar)
Now wikis can't do everything, and they certainly have their drawbacks, but I have found that
trying to distill related, vague new ideas into firm concepts through group participation in a wiki
really works. Getting a group of smart and self-motivated people to get their heads around new
ideas and issues - feeling around their barriers if you will - is a great use of wiki technology. The
term I have heard used for this is collaborative theory building or sense making. For me at least,
62
TECHNOLOGY ANALYSIS
this is a critical aspect of exploring the application of new technology and marrying it to related,
yet complex social and psychological phenomenon. (Hopper)
Social Networks
if anybody is interested in experimenting with social networks, Ning.com , founded by
(from way back) Netscape's Marc Andreesen, is free for hosted private social networks.
(Kuo)
Content Management Systems
Work is taking place this summer on a Drupal SMS framework (as part of the google sponsored
'Summer of Code') which could lead to some useful frameworks for SMS-CMS interaction. …I've
recently explored the Drupal Wiki Install profile which can be really interesting when linked
with the Content Creation Kit which allows new sorts of data to be defined a 'wikified'. E.g. In
my project (a collaborative literature review) I can create either a standard wiki page, or a
'literature entry' which has extra fields for logging author, date of publication etc. in addition to
a free-text-wiki-format area for taking notes. (Davies)
SKYPE
Cheap phone calls by computers is a powerful attraction. (Bucheli)
Every time I introduce skype to new people they get so excited about the possibility to
communicate with others not only on a personal basis but even us in the nongovernmental
world, we have to make sure we can save money, using this type of technology to work is a
wonderful thing. (Garza)
Project Management
As a Project coordinator, I started using Zoho Projects in my new Youth Leadership
project...I wanted and needed an easy program that would allow me to keep a certain
objective order in my and the rest of the team’s tasks. My team is on the field most of the
time and can afford to connect from cybercafés to see what’s cooking (in my mind and the
rest of the team’s) and what’s coming next. … Disclosure: No, I’m not paid by Zoho (nor am
i paying for Zoho). In the same field, www.whodo.es is apparently pretty good too.
(Masrour)
Zoho Projects is a lot like Basecamp where a group has a dashboard with all sorts of lovely
project management tools at their disposal. Basecamp has one project available for free and it
has no file storage and limited functions - that's probably the biggest difference. (McDonald)
63
TECHNOLOGY ANALYSIS
Mobile Phones
How about just a phone! How about one xda, N95 or iPhone per child? Much easier to tote
around. Interesting how this discussion has been very centered on the screen and keyboard
paradigm. ..(Clarke)
One story my partner shared with me was of a workshop she attended (she works in the “new
media division of a large TV company”) with a number of mid-teens who were in care. The 15 or
16 year-olds listened politely to the mavens expounding on MySpace and vidcasting and social
networks and all the other wonders they wanted to provide and then one of them commented
that none of it actually had any relevance to his life, which was essentially about survival. Of
course, he had a mobile phone - that was his base level tech. requirement. (Clarke)
Mobile Phones and…
… the lowest, toughest common denominator is probably what many of end up using. BUT, I’d
contend that this doesn’t exclude the so-called cutting edge. Google Reader or mail works
marvelously well over mobile. Throw in Google office and mobile twitter and you’ve got a
bonafide collaborative environment that’ll theoretically hold up in countries where the phones
are always down but mobiles work (do correct me - I've never had to try it out!) (Clarke)
Virtual Worlds (e.g. Second Life)
I've tried to find out what (3D virtual worlds like second life) add to the picture... but after
many hours … I've always left rather unsure of how they add to online communication. The
complexity of operating Avatars, tracking conversations and being tied to one 'virtualphysical' location seems to be awkward and confusing - rather than offering deeper
interactions… Am I missing something? When are the situations in which 3D Virtual Worlds
have something to add? Or are they just a distraction...? (Davies)
Global Kids and the MacArthur Foundation have partnered to announce a new nonprofit
and philanthropic theme for the third annual Second Life Community Convention (SLCC), to
be held August 24-26 in Chicago. In conjunction with the event, a series of research and
how-to papers will be published this fall. Second Life Community Convention (Woolis)
E-commerce
I have worked a bit in Ecuador (and) the result of all of these meetings was zero progress after a
lot of enthusiasm… (Is) using e-commerce for artesans a functioning model? I want to be
optimistic, but the Ecuador examples in connecting those working in travel and tourism have
been lackluster. If the online marketing and sales of crafts is taking off, it would be great to
know the specifics. (Mader)
64
TECHNOLOGY ANALYSIS
There's still a big hurdle for e-commerce development in Ecuador: online credit card processing.
Local banks and credit card processing companies do not offer this service yet, so any ecommerce initiative is still incomplete. I´ve talked with people that work on these companies
and it seems that the issue is not technical. It´s lack of decision. I tend to think and assume that
it relates to fear of online fraud as a result of the lack of culture regarding privacy protection for
credit card information…Logistic costs are other problem. Some months ago we were looking a
way to help a local organization sell their crafts online. For many of their items, their shipping
costs to the US were five to ten times the cost of the articles themselves….So you can launch a
website, display a catalog, show information, but in the end you need to find payment
alternatives to credit cards and Paypal, i.e wire transfer, deposit on bank account, cash on
delivery, which are not very attractive for online users. (Bejar)
Technology Wishes
Why not more intuitive, interdependent, robust and well designed and delivered technologies?
Why must I learn hundreds of different programs with all their nuances - rather than place the
responsibility for great design on the technology companies... and ask and engage in a learning
conversation with them to help illuminate those needs I currently see and the emergent needs I
can only feel to inform the next generation of tools, methods and technologies? (Hunter)
As to the reasons (that we have to "learn hundreds of different programs with all their nuances”), well,
in the case of programs that are proprietary, I guess the short answer is that this is private
sector and profit driven. In the case of the open source movement, the simple answer is
that a guy comes up with a really bright idea, and decides to build a new piece of software
around it. In general, software comes and goes, though. (Soeftestad)
A smoother integration of synchronous & asynch, where transcripts from synch sessions
could be more easily popped into the discussion forums (Bruck)
A video hosting service that will offer low-enough-bandwidth versions of videos (Davies)
I'm not too familiar with the Google stuff - but they do not have one platform that integrates all
the things you would like to use for PM and they don't have a good calendar/meeting function.
(McDonald)
I expect great, great things from the integration of Jotspot into Google. It seems it will add a
very well integrated collaborative piece (based on wikis) to everything else Google. (Masrour)
A free project management tool (advertising on the site is fine) would be lovely...(McDonald)
I have used the tech parts as you said phone, phone and Ipaq, xda; and I have come to the
conclusion that any individual item weighing more than 150 gms will not be carried in anyone’s
pocket. To modify Mae West's comment "Is that a lump of plastic in your pocket or are you just
using it to wear a hole in your pocket" …But in general you are right; adequate tech hardware is
65
TECHNOLOGY ANALYSIS
moving closer to 150 gms. What really hit me … was the use of Google on a Palm or Pocket PC
and the way we had set up the schedule on the Google sheet. (O’Brien)
We still are trying to find a good way to share audio and video content over dial up
connections, which are still widely used in developing countries; and also a way to
integrate SMS to CMS, to make it easier for a user to post on a website without Internet
access. (Bejar)
… other platforms like Zoho projects that are completely free … (and) that can operate in
languages other than English (Spanish in particular)? (McDonald)
This Jam was run in office environments, but social change has to include the street and the
land. The office is a structured place where particular social mores are established; they are not
rigid I grant but they are powerful, robust and dominant. …The land and the street is at best
complex, most likely it is chaotic; it is certain that no one from the street could have joined in
the Jam. But if they cannot engage in a Jam then they cannot affect those who structure their
society…The use of a common Google type platform on PPC could help to change (Lars point
about) “understanding participation as both a means and an aim.” It could put the office
technology into the chaos of the street and allow connections that are impossible now… How to
enable the street and the land to connect their shared reality and longings into a common
purpose; so that as in Lars point they themselves and not just interlocutors such as us that
"Speak truth to power" (O’Brien)
66
TECHNOLOGY ANALYSIS
ONLINE RESOURCES
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Coemergence official website. www.coemergence.com
Complex Adaptive Systems links. http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/complex/links.htm
Cross, Jay. Internet Time Blog (reference to Informal Learning).http://internettime.com/
Del.icio.us. Social bookmarking. http://del.icio.us/
Dgroups official website. http://www.dgroups.org/
Drupal official website. http://drupal.org
Drupal. Drupal SMS Framework http://groups.drupal.org/sms-framework
Drupal. Drupal Wiki install profile. On line: http://drupal.org/project/drupal_wiki
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Bridger, Steve. How to use Flickr and Slideshare. http://www.slideshare.net/mexicanwave
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67
ONLINE RESOURCES
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ONLINE RESOURCES
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ONLINE RESOURCES
GLOSSARY
Terms Used in the Global Jam4
A
Affordance:
An affordance in the broad sense is not much different to an opportunity, or a strength (as in SWOT). As such, it is a
property of the technology, medium, etc, and it is framed in terms of traditional 'media selection' theory. Gibson uses
affordance in a much more specific way: so his affordances are interactive and ecological, and are 'tethered' to a range
of technologies, but not dependent on them. In these terms, then ... an affordance is: the product of the interaction
between the learner and the environment. Each interaction potentially alters the knowledge, capability and identity of
the learner, as well as the micro-ecology.
Aggregation:
“Gathering information from multiple web sites, typically via RSS. Aggregation lets web sites remix the information
from multiple web sites, for example by republishing all the news related to a particular keyword.” - Social Signal
ASP:
Application Service Provider – A provider who provides a software service including the software, hosting and
usually, support. For example, Blogger offers blog software and hosting. This is useful when you don't have your
own server or want to be free of basic support tasks. The downside is you often have less ability to configure and
tweak the software. Costs range from free to very expensive. ASPs who provide the service for free usually
support it by including advertising.
B
Blended Learning:
“Blended learning is the combination of multiple approaches to teaching or to educational processes which involve
the deployment of a diversity of methods and resources or to learning experiences which are derived from more
than one kind of information source. Examples include combining technology-based materials and traditional print
materials, group and individual study, structured pace study and self-paced study, tutorial and coaching.” Wikipedia
Blog: or Weblog - "A weblog, also known as a *blog, is a frequently updated website consisting of dated entries
arranged in reverse chronological order so that the reader sees the most recent post first. The style is typically
personal and informal. Freely available tools on the World Wide Web make it easy for anybody to publish their
4
Please note that some few format changes were made from the original Glossary, to view the original and non edited
version please click here. This purpose of this glossary is to contextualize the discussion within the Global JAM and clarify
the meaning of certain terms. This translates in the use of terms that often have multiple meanings or mean different
things to different people.
70
own weblog, so there is a lot of variety in the quality, content and ambition of weblogs, and a weblog may have
anywhere from a handful to tens of thousands of daily readers. Weblogs first appeared in the mid-nineties and
became more widely popular as simple and free publishing tools such as Blogger.com became available towards
the turn of the century." There are many other terms related to blogging. (Source: Jill Walker)
Bookmark: (v) To mark a document or a specific place in a document for later retrieval. Most Web browsers
support a bookmarking feature that lets you save the address (URL) of a Web page so that you can easily re-visit
the page at a later time. A marker or address that identifies a document or a specific place in a document.
C
Community Telecenters:
A Telecentre is a public place where people can access computers, the Internet and other technologies that help
them gather information and communicate with others at the same time as they develop digital skills. While each
telecentre is different, the common focus is on the use of technologies to support community and social
development — reducing isolation, bridging the digital divide, promoting health issues, creating economic
opportunities, reaching out to youths.
Visit telecentre.org web site.
Multipurpose Community Telecenters are facilities that provide public access to a variety of communication and
information services. They are promoted by many organisations including the World Bank and the United Nations,
as well as developing country governments. Controversy exsists around how true is the idea that technology alone
will bring benefits to the poor. From Wikipedia®
Note: to distinguish Cybercafes from telecenters, telecenters only exist in the developing world. The focus of
telecentres is to benefit disadvantage communities in rural areas from developing countries, by introducing them
to the technology, giving them access to it. They are cheaper, and usually established by non profits.
For more information visit the UNESCO site for telecenter developers, practitioners, and researchers. "It contains
an annotated and classified inventory of resources on local information and informatics initiatives as community
multimedia and multipurpose telecenters." visit: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.phpURL_ID=15182&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Complex Systems / Complex Adaptive Systems:
The study of complex systems is a multidisciplinary approach that takes into account all that is natural or artificial
within a given network or system. Those who use complex systems theory in their work may look at chaos theory,
fractals, general non-linear models, etc. This web site Complex Adaptive Systems links has a great deal of
interesting reading.
Connectivism:
George Siemen's idea of learning in a networked world. "Connectivism is the integration of principles explored by
chaos, network, and complexity and self-organization theories. Learning is a process that occurs within nebulous
environments of shifting core elements – not entirely under the control of the individual. Learning (defined as
actionable knowledge) can reside outside of ourselves (within an organization or a database), is focused on
connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more important
than our current state of knowing." George Siemens
71
Content Management Systems: Also known as CMS - Software suites designed to incorporate tools and processes
for document management.
Cybercafe:
cy·ber·ca·fe (s b r-k -f , -k -)
n.
1. A cafe from which customers can access the Internet.
2. A chatroom.
Cybercafes are for profit. A more "fancy" version of telecenters
D
Data:
In everyday language data is a synonym for information. More exactly, data is understood as a measurement (i.e., an
observation that reduces an uncertainty expressed as a quantity) that can be either disorganized or organized. Cf. the
terms "information" and "knowledge".
DGroups: A fee based email/web archive collaboration platform for international development.
From the DGroups Site:
Dgroups is an online home for groups and communities interested in international development.
In Dgroups, one can find the online tools and services needed to support the activities of a team, a group, a network, a
partnership or a community.
Dgroups is also a place to find groups who are interested in the same topics in international development as you.
Drupal:
Drupal CMS framework. From their website: Drupal, an open source (see open source software) content management
platform (see CMS).
Equipped with a powerful blend of features, Drupal supports a variety of websites ranging from personal weblogs to large
community-driven websites.
E
E-Conference:
E-Conference - Online dialogue focusing on a specific topic within a limited-time frame and moderated format.
Discussions are later summarized and participants queried to evaluate the discussion and next steps. Similar to a JAM.
References
http://www.planeta.com/web/confindex.html
http://www.planeta.com/web/conferences.html
E-Portfolio:
72
In the context of education and learning an ePortfolio is a portfolio based on electronic media and services. It consists of
a personal digital record containing information such as personal profile and collection of achievements, information on
which different services can be provided to the owner of the ePortfolio and the people and organisations to whom the
owner has granted access.
http://www/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPortfolio
Elgg:
ELGG = http://elgg.org/ A software tool
From their site: Elgg is an open source social platform based around choice, flexibility and openness: a system that firmly
places individuals at the centre of their activities.)
F
Feedreaders:
A tool which collects all the feeds a person has subscribed to and put them into an organized, readable form on the
desktop or in an internet browser. Also called a “newsreader” or “aggregator.” See “Feeds”
Feeds:
Also known as webfeeds or blog feeds. “A web feed is a document (often XML-based) which contains content items,
often summaries of stories or blog posts with web links to longer versions. News websites and blogs are common sources
for web feeds, but feeds are also used to deliver structured information ranging from weather data to "top ten" lists of
hit tunes… More often, feeds are subscribed to directly by users with aggregators or feed readers, which combine the
contents of multiple web feeds for display on a single screen or series of screens. Some modern web browsers
incorporate aggregator features. Depending on the aggregator, users typically subscribe to a feed by manually entering
the URL of a feed or clicking a link in a web browser.” - Wikipedia
Folksonomy:
“A portmanteau word combining “folk” and “taxonomy,” refers to the collaborative but unsophisticated way in which
information is being categorized on the web. Instead of using a centralized form of classification, users are encouraged to
assign freely chosen keywords (called tags) to pieces of information or data, a process known as tagging. Examples of web
services that use tagging include : Flickr, del.icio.us, etc. - wikipedia
I
ICT:
ICT stands for Internet Collaboration Technology. ICT tools may be sychronous (all join at the same time) or asychronous
(participants join at different times but for a defined period).
Informal Learning:
A term popularized by Jay Cross which refers to our ability to learn anytime, anywhere and outside of structured and
formal learning environments and processes.
Information:
Data that is organized, that is arranged in patterns, becomes information. Cf. the terms "data" and "knowledge".
73
J
JAM:
JAM is an online discussion focused on work that is time limited, asynchronous, moderated, and subsequently analyzed.
K
Knowledge:
Information located in a cultural and social context becomes knowledge. Cf. the terms "data" and "information".
L
Leadership Learning Center:
Leadership Learning Center is a term used by Berkana to describe the entities that are part of the Berkana Exchange (see
http://www.berkanaexchange.net) The underlying mission of these centers is to develop local leadership for systemic
community change. They do this by attending to critical areas of local practice including:
•
Feeding Ourselves Sustainably
•
Health and Healing
•
Beyond Schooling
•
Media, Arts and Culture
•
Upcycling and Ecobuilding
•
Businesses We Believe In
•
Youth Leading
Learning Community:
A Learning Community (LC) is a group of people with a common learning or knowledge interest, but not necessarily with
the same objectives and interests. It is based on trust and in recognizing diversity with the willingness to share knowledge
and experiences. It seeks to frame learning processes in a long term with innovation, built capacities, practices and to
strengthen links amongst members to create synergies*.
*Translated from the Impact Alliance's workshop on learning communities in Mexico City in January 2005.
Learning Management System: Also known as an LMS - A learning management system (LMS) is a software application or
Web-based technology used to plan, implement, and assess a specific learning process. Typically, a learning management
system provides an instructor with a way to create and deliver content, monitor student participation, and assess student
performance. A learning management system may also provide students with the ability to use interactive features such
as threaded discussions, video conferencing, and discussion forums. The Advanced Distance Learning group, sponsored
by the United States Department of Defense, has created a set of specifications called Shareable Content Object
Reference Model (SCORM) to encourage the standardization of learning management systems. From
http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid19_gci798202,00.html
74
Listserv:
A group email tool. Listserv is actually a brand name, so the more accurate term is an email group.
Lurking:
Someone who reads in an online interaction space, but rarely or never posts. When they DO post, it is said that they are
"de-lurking." Also known as "readers". Depending on the purpose of the interaction space, the facilitators may try and
engage "readers" to begin responding and posting.
This term sometimes carries negative connotations so in some settings, using the term "reader" is advisable. Lurking can
be seen as negative, but in some cases, people who read only can have a significant impact in a community's purpose -let's say the purpose is to share information. If I read, you have reached me. If the purpose is to generate new
information, then there is a stronger reason to get everyone to post -- and generate. Readers provide an audience, they
provide page views -- they are an influence, albeit unseen and sometimes hard to understand. Readers can be
CONVERTED to posters.
M
Mashup:
“Website or Web 2.0 application that uses content from more than one source to create a completely new service.”
Wikipedia
N
Netiquette: The set of online "manners" generally known as netiquette, or etiquette on the Net. For a comprehensive list
of rules for a variety of forms of online communication, see Arlene Rinaldi's User Guidelines and Netiquette at Florida
Atlantic University: http://www.fau.edu/rinaldi/netiquette.html which also includes some translations into other
languages.
O
Online Community of practice:
Techno-social organizational structures for people collaborating to reach a specific and time-limited goal, who use the
online medium as a critical tool to accomplish work.
In other words, people both seek and supply information (their own experience and resources that they value) when they
are engaged in work that is of value to them.
Open ID:
Open ID (hm, the definition on their site isn't that useful):
OpenID is an open, decentralized, free framework for user-centric digital identity.
OpenID starts with the concept that anyone can identify themselves on the Internet the same way websites do-with a URI
(also called a URL or web address). Since URIs are at the very core of Web architecture, they provide a solid foundation
for user-centric identity.
75
The concept is if all sites that required registration used some sort of shared identification technology, we could more
easily work across various webbased collaboration and interaction sites with just one login.
Open Source Software:
Also short handed as "Open Source"
"Generically, open source refers to a program in which the source code is available to the general public for use and/or
modification from its original design free of charge, i.e., open. Open source code is typically created as a collaborative
effort in which programmers improve upon the code and share the changes within the community. Open source
sprouted in the technological community as a response to proprietary software owned by corporations." Webopedia
P
Participatory Action Research:
At the most basic level, participatory action research is community based research that may have an expert on-hand to
guide research design but is driven in goals and methods by the community. The community will define the research,
carry out it out for a specific period of time, analyze the results, and then begin the cycle again.
The research and writings of Kurt Lewin are a great starting point to learn about this easy, yet powerful method.
Permalink:
“The URL of the full, individual article, designed to refer to a specific information item (often a news story or blog item)
and to remain unchanged permanently, or at least for a lengthy period of time to prevent link rot." Wikipedia
PLE:
PLE, or Personal Learning Environment - "Personal Learning Environments are systems that help learners take control of
and manage their own learning. This includes providing support for learners to
•
set their own learning goals
•
manage their learning; managing both content and process
•
communicate with others in the process of learning
and thereby achieve learning goals." (Source: Wikipedia)
Presence Indicators:
A software tool, stand alone as part of an instant messenger tool, or built into an online interaction space (like our
Moodle) which show who is online in the space at any given time. These are useful to help build a sense of "group" and
are often bundled with instant messenger tools enabling users who are online at the same time to send quick messages
to each other.
R
RSS:
76
RSS ( Really Simple Syndication) – At it’s simplest, a mechanism to allow you to subscribe to updated web content such as
blog posts and forum messages. “The RSS formats provide web content or summaries of web content together with links
to the full versions of the content, and other meta-data. This information is delivered as an XML file called an RSS feed,
web feed, RSS stream, or RSS channel. In addition to facilitating syndication, RSS allows a website’s frequent readers to
track updates on the site using an aggregator.” - Wikipedia
For a great, short video explaining RSS, see RSS in Plain English.
S
SaaS:
SaaS is Software as a Service - this is a software delivery model where the software is built and delivered on the web
platform. ASP (application service provider) is the precursor to SaaS; however, due to changes in how web applications
are built today, there is a move toward using the term SaaS.
Screencast:
"A screencast is a recording of computer screen output, usually containing audio narration typically published as a video
file. However, the technology has existed for much longer. Screencasts are typically created to produce software and web
application demonstrations." Wikipedia
Skype:
Skypetm – One of the leading VOIP providers. http://www.skype.com
Social Bookmarking:
Also called Shared Bookmarking – Instead of book marking websites in one’s personal browser, users bookmark in a web
based site that allows them to selectively tag, share and access their list of bookmarked URLs from any web connected
computer. People can track the tags people put on bookmarks as a way to find and filter content. Example:
http://del.icio.us, http://www.furl.net
Social media: This is largely a test (as suggested elsewhere) but I take social media to mean any online content or activity
that takes place through the efforts or contributions of a group of people. Some types of online activity are social media
in a pure sense (blogs, wikis etc) whilst others could be described as being socially mediated (recommendation systems,
reviews on e-commerce sites).
Social network analysis - Affinity software:
Programs whose purpose is to connect individuals based on affinity. These are usually used to identify other members
who have similar interests (or particular knowledge, in work related to specific subject areas.)
In the widest sense, software that assists in this arena would include sites such as MySpace, Flickr, LinkedIn etc. But these
do not analyze or depict relations.
However there is a subset based on modeling which is primarily used to automatically identify links in knowledge and
research interests, or to analyze the extent of connections within organization -- through computer-generated affinity
maps.
77
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_analysis for further discussion, including metrics for analysis that
include: centrality, flow, cohesion and density. An area within this field is the development of tools for Enterprise
Relationship Management.
I have looked for a list of software products, but cannot find an obvious list (such as on Wikipedia.) So here are a couple
of examples of different types of software that analyze business knowlege or relationships:
ActiveNet by www.tacit.com
ACIS by www.coemergence.com
Infolow by www.orgnet.com/inflow3.html
Social Networking Tools:
Social networking tools and sites help people discover new friends or colleagues by illuminating shared interests, related
skills, or a common geographic location. Leading examples include Friendster, LinkedIn, FaceBook, MySpace and
43people. Social Signal
Social Software:
(See also Social Media) “Software that enables participation, contribution and networking (inter-connecting); for example
blogs. Software that enables content or services to be combined by third-parties (this combination is often referred to as
‘remixing’ or a ‘mash-up’: a reference to DJ-culture where new compositions are created by sampling and combining
existing sounds or recordings).” – Motive Glossary Sometimes called "Social Media" which "describes the online
technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each
other.Social media can take many different forms, including text, images, audio, and video. Popular social mediums
include blogs, message boards, podcasts, wikis, and vlogs." Wikipedia
T
Tags/ Tagging:
Tags/Tagging – “Tags are the keywords people add to articles in their blog or to web pages via social book marking tools
like del.icio.us, Technorati, Yahoo ! My Web 2.0, etc.” - Wikipedia
Trans-local:
Connections which are formed between and among local enterprises within a larger geographic area are referred to as
"trans-local" by The Berkana Institute and others. The phrase was created to convey a sense of the connections people
make to each other based on their local work. The leadership learning centers who are part of the Berkana Exchange are
a trans-local learning community based in many locations around the world (Pakistan, India, Senegal, South Africa,
Zimbabwe, Brazil, Mexico, US and Canada) whose learning comes from local routes.
By using this term we reject much of what is proffered under the term "global" which frequently becomes a term for
domination and control by economically rich countries over others who share this planet.
Transition country:
The original term is "transition economy", and was coined to cover the countries resulting from the collapse of Soviet
Union. They had very different characteristics than developing economies, and needed to be labeled accordingly.
78
U
Urgent Request Process:
A very well accepted "learning tool" in a community is an "Urgent Request" process:
question to the community about an issue or problem one or more responses with solutions or links to solutions
evaluation and feedback about the feasibility of the response discussion in the community, how to further proceed with
the responses, e.g. just store them or create a combination out of them or develop them jointly into a Best Practice.
V
Videoconferencing:
A conference or interaction between two or more participants at different sites by using computer networks to transmit
audio and video data. Some times the audio is done via separate telebridge. A point-to-point (two-person) video
conferencing system works like a video telephone. Each participant has a video camera, microphone, and speakers
mounted on his or her computer. As the two participants speak to one another, their voices are carried over the network
and delivered to the other's speakers, and whatever images appear in front of the video camera appear in a window on
the other participant's monitor. Multipoint videoconferencing allows three or more participants to sit in a virtual
conference room and communicate as if they were sitting right next to each other.
Virtual Communities for Social Innovation:
Virtual Communities of Practice are techno-social organizational structures for people collaborating to reach a specific
and time-limited goal, who use the online medium as a critical tool to accomplish work.
Virtual Communities for Social Innovation are explicitly focused on the production of knowledge in the public interest and
the work that takes place in them should build or contribute to networks of collective intelligence. This does not happen
all at once, or without planning and careful execution.
Virtual Communities for Social Innovation yield desired results only when key requirements are met:
•
Leadership
•
Strategy
•
Facilitation
•
Resources
•
Stewardship
Virtual Community:
(Also called online community, e-community) A virtual community is a community of people sharing common interests,
ideas, and feelings over the Internet or other collaborative networks. A possible inventor of this term and one of its first
proponents was Howard Rheingold, documented his book, The Virtual Community. Rheingold defines virtual
communities as social aggregations that emerge from the Internet when enough people carry on public discussions long
enough and with sufficient human feeling to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace. See also
http://www.fullcirc.com/community/definingcommunity.htm
79
Voice Over IP (VOIP):
“Short for Voice over Internet Protocol, a category of hardware and software that enables people to use the Internet as
the transmission medium for telephone calls by sending voice data in packets using IP rather than by traditional circuit
transmissions of the PSTN. One advantage of VoIP is that the telephone calls over the Internet do not incur a surcharge
beyond what the user is paying for Internet access, much in the same way that the user doesn't pay for sending individual
e-mails over the Internet.” - Webopedia
W
Web 2.0:
The term 'Web 2.0' was coined by O'Reilly Media in 2003, according to Wikipedia. Web 2.0 is characterized by the
movement of business applications and processes to the internet and the development of broader (and more numerous)
online communities. Web 2.0 is best known for wikis and social-netowrking but advances have also been made in data
visualization tools, the development of 'widgets' (mini-applications), the ability to serve information to the user that the
user wants. For a more complete definition and history, see the Wikipedia article.
Widget:
A widget is a mini-application that users can add to their personal start page (iGoogle, NetVibes, Pageflakes, etc.), social
networking software (Myspace, Facebook, etc.), and now the desktop. These mini-applications do as many different
things as there are developers. The most popular are weather, language, time zone, email, and rss feed delivery.
Wiki:
"Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser.
Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and cross-links between internal pages on
the fly. Wiki ... allows the organization of contributions to be edited in addition to the content itself... Allowing everyday
users to create and edit any page in a Web site is exciting in that it encourages democratic use of the Web and promotes
content composition by non-technical users." WikiPedia
WYSIWYG: Pronounced [wiz-ee-wig], is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get, used in computing to describe a
system in which content during editing appears very similar to the final product. On this site you have encountered a
wysiwyg text editor whenever you post to a discussion -- that is the widget which allows you to format your text entry
making text display bold, italic, indented, colored, etc. In fact, the editor is translating your settings into HTML code so
the text will display properly on the web.
The phrase was originally popularized by comedian Flip Wilson, whose character "Geraldine" would often say this to
excuse hr quirky behavior
80

Analysis Report

Transcription

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