Hosting Conversations about Questions that Matter
Opportunities - was Challenges :-)
Fellow Stewards for this online community space,
As the "site administrator" I am having some challenges that I'd like to see us address together as a stewardship group if at all possible.
I think Ulrich's idea of a "Charter" or clear statement of intent might be a good response to these issues, but here are a few examples of what is coming up for me:
There seem to be many people coming in to this community lately who are completely new to the World Cafe - posting events (tours of the SF bay), requesting that they might start a group (for everything from World Markets to the culture of the people in the Arabian Peninsula), or blogging (on Home Prices in America).
Many of these contributions feel out of whack to me - like the people making the contributions have no idea where they are, and have not been properly introduced. That's why I like the idea of a Charter, or clear statement of intent, as I think it may clarify things for new people from the beginning.
I have some concerns that, especially in this early time of seeding the World Cafe online community, it's important we don't just become another nondescript "FaceBook"-type space that covers everything and therefore has no value to the people who could build a real community of practice here. On the other hand, I really want this to be a hospitable space, and certainly it is not only World Cafe people who are welcome - for example, we are very much wanting to create the environment for mutual exchange with people from the Art of Hosting, Kaos Pilots, Appreciative Inquiry, Open Space, etc. and we want new people who are genuinely interested in the World Cafe or conscious group process to feel like they are welcome, too.
So, here are some of my questions:
Should there be any restrictions or criteria for who's able to start a "group"? We currently ask that people who want to start a group must be willing to care for it, but are there other criteria we should be using, like that the groups should be about the World Cafe in some way, or they should only be able to be started by people who are already in the World Cafe somehow?
Should we make this community invitation-only, so we know where people are coming in from?
What about people who only ever post their events and make no contribution or have no interaction otherwise?
Are there any limits on the kind of events/blogs/conversations/etc. we are comfortable having posted?
If there is a feeling that some kind of simple Charter or statement of intent would help with some or all of these issues, Would someone be willing to draft it for us to look at, and where should we put it?
On another level altogether, we've had some real challenges with the Buddies and Mentors process - mainly that there are twice as many people who want buddies than there are willing to be a buddy, and that many of the people offering to be Mentors are not experienced enough to really carry out the role.
So, in response, I've started offering weekly Phone Clinics for tech issues, and I'd like to encourage people who need help or information to post their questions in the conversations area, and people who know the answers to respond to them.
How does this sound? Any thoughts?
Warm Hugs, and appreciation for your co-stewardship of this space.
Amy
As the "site administrator" I am having some challenges that I'd like to see us address together as a stewardship group if at all possible.
I think Ulrich's idea of a "Charter" or clear statement of intent might be a good response to these issues, but here are a few examples of what is coming up for me:
There seem to be many people coming in to this community lately who are completely new to the World Cafe - posting events (tours of the SF bay), requesting that they might start a group (for everything from World Markets to the culture of the people in the Arabian Peninsula), or blogging (on Home Prices in America).
Many of these contributions feel out of whack to me - like the people making the contributions have no idea where they are, and have not been properly introduced. That's why I like the idea of a Charter, or clear statement of intent, as I think it may clarify things for new people from the beginning.
I have some concerns that, especially in this early time of seeding the World Cafe online community, it's important we don't just become another nondescript "FaceBook"-type space that covers everything and therefore has no value to the people who could build a real community of practice here. On the other hand, I really want this to be a hospitable space, and certainly it is not only World Cafe people who are welcome - for example, we are very much wanting to create the environment for mutual exchange with people from the Art of Hosting, Kaos Pilots, Appreciative Inquiry, Open Space, etc. and we want new people who are genuinely interested in the World Cafe or conscious group process to feel like they are welcome, too.
So, here are some of my questions:
Should there be any restrictions or criteria for who's able to start a "group"? We currently ask that people who want to start a group must be willing to care for it, but are there other criteria we should be using, like that the groups should be about the World Cafe in some way, or they should only be able to be started by people who are already in the World Cafe somehow?
Should we make this community invitation-only, so we know where people are coming in from?
What about people who only ever post their events and make no contribution or have no interaction otherwise?
Are there any limits on the kind of events/blogs/conversations/etc. we are comfortable having posted?
If there is a feeling that some kind of simple Charter or statement of intent would help with some or all of these issues, Would someone be willing to draft it for us to look at, and where should we put it?
On another level altogether, we've had some real challenges with the Buddies and Mentors process - mainly that there are twice as many people who want buddies than there are willing to be a buddy, and that many of the people offering to be Mentors are not experienced enough to really carry out the role.
So, in response, I've started offering weekly Phone Clinics for tech issues, and I'd like to encourage people who need help or information to post their questions in the conversations area, and people who know the answers to respond to them.
How does this sound? Any thoughts?
Warm Hugs, and appreciation for your co-stewardship of this space.
Amy
Replies to This Conversation
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Permalink Reply by Ria Baeck on -
Hello Ulrich and others,
My frustration is not about online communities, it is about the limits of self-organising systems when there is no clear boss/leader. Where does the leading/guiding/boundaries come from then?
In my view, when communities or networks are still small there is an implicit understanding by the members about what is 'in' and what is 'out'. Boudaries about what can be done or not are tangible, but not explicit. When the community or network grows and matures (=develops) there are other tasks to be done. You can learn about this in the Communities of Practice science (Etienne Wenger - stages of CoPs).
My frustration is that I see the need for making the next level explicit and do what is needed according to that but not many others see the same (yet).
One of the points in this maturing of the CoP is pointing out where is the natural hierarchy - and who is that. (who can met mentors? in TWC - Who can be a trainer in AOH) Many communities and networks have started in the Green Meme (Spiral Dynamics) and want to be too inclusive; which can harm the quality! I see the idea of having regional stewards in the WC community as one of these experiments to deal with that... which turned out not to be a good way...
We are all finding out, and learning as we go... -
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Permalink Reply by Ulrich Soeder on -
Dear Ria,
thank you for this clarification.
I share your experience and I think this is an interesting topic that is not easy to address. In the context of World Café, I met this kind of question when thinking about stewardship, when thinking about how to set up a training for World Café and how to distinguish a good café from a great café.
This question is one of my drivers for co-hosting the European Salon and explore together what comes beyond conversational networks that are open for everyone and every opinion. What about experience? What about quality? What about results?
In a community, we might help the development in making visible not only the next level, but the actual level. Only then we will have the opportunity to chose and to decide: Seeing our seeing.
When you indicate the stages of CoP by Etienne Wenger, which publication or book do you have in mind?
Cheers, Ulrich -
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Amy and all -
Looking at the other post on Cafes Online, in what ways might we plant this conversation in an online cafe and a) amplify this topic's generative energy and b) create a learning lab experience for those of us curious but clueless about how virtual cafes work?
Bruce -
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Permalink Reply by Amy Lenzo on -
Hi Bruce, Welcome to the conversation!
I'm guess I'm not sure what your question is ...
This is the group who has said they'd like to be part of caring for this online community space, so Ulrich and I have put forward some questions and have received some responses. I see this as distinct from a virtual cafe, which is literally a World Cafe done online.
Can you say again what you're suggesting? Thanks.
Amy -
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Thanks, Amy.
I'm asking if a synchronous conversation (a virtual cafe) might be beneficial as opposed to - or in addition to - the asynchronous conversation we're having here. The suggestion is offered in ignorance of how a virtual cafe really works, as well as the extent to which your needs are already being met with the current dialogue.
Is this clarifying my question?
Bruce -
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Permalink Reply by Amy Lenzo on
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Yes, thanks Bruce. This is much clearer now.
I agree that a virtual world cafe may well be exactly what we need ... and for now this forum feels like the right medium. It gives people a chance to weigh in and ask questions and share their thoughts so that we can shape whatever is next together - be it a virtual cafe or a Skype conference call, or a wiki to write a Charter or whatever other way we want to explore the questions people are starting to surface.
I would be intrigued and excited (and would certainly participate) if someone else called a cafe together, but for now and for myself, I'm happy to see what emerges in this asynchronous space. -
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Permalink Reply by Barbara Shipka on -
I am interested in the challenges and questions you propose, Amy, and the resulting conversation and how it might apply to all CoP online. Also, I've known of the Cafe process for a long time but am new as a participant.
I like the possibility of making this topic a Cafe conversation (a dream within a dream) as, for me, that would be a 2 for 1. Is that possible? If not, I would like to understand why not...as a way of learning more about the Cafe process/intent.
Thanks, friend! -
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Permalink Reply by Amy Lenzo on
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Hi Barbara! I'm so glad you've joined us here. There's no reason why we wouldn't set up a virtual World Cafe except perhaps numbers - World Cafe is usually a better choice for larger numbers, but I agree with you and Bruce that it would be very cool to have this conversation as a Cafe, and if someone wants to set one up, I'll happily join in.
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Permalink Reply by Ulrich Soeder on
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Hi Barbara,
what do you mean with »a dream within a dream«?
In my view, an Online Café can be a very real form of communication without sharing the same physical space. This saves a lot of money and travelling. It cannot replace a face-to-face communication, but it can prepare one or bridge the time between in person meetings.
There are some technical details to care for, but the general flow and the preparation is very similar to a face-to-face café.
If you like the idea of having a café with the purpose of crafting an intent for this online community, just imagine this would be a live café ...
Cheers, Ulrich -
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Permalink Reply by Amy Lenzo on
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Beautiful, Ulrich. You point to something that is really key, in my opinion, when you say "just imagine". That is how we will create the new way of having conversation and being together here - by "just imagining" that the principles of the World Cafe are the context for our conversations, for our being together. That clearly stated intent and the willingness to "act as if" the intent is being manifested is what makes it happen.
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Permalink Reply by Barbara Shipka on
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Just found my way to this message, Ulrich. (Still learning my way around.) Thank you for your response. What I mean by 'dream within a dream' is a metaphor for saying that we have an online cafe to talk about caring for the online cafe. It definitely is very real for me as well!
Regards, Barbara -
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Permalink Reply by Raffi Aftandelian on -
Amy and all,
I hope this post fits under "challenges" (otherwise I can repost this):
I'm wondering if there is any mechanism in place right now to back up the data on this social network to a separate server. This is a serious consideration.
A few years ago the company which hosted the Genuine Contact Program's electronic discussion list and forum went out of service. And all the data was lost! The Program subsequently created a new electronic list and then put that on a private server. It took more than a year to bring the virtual community back online. -
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