Following Saturdays Elluminate meeting my head was still spinning. I finally get the difference between a community (group) and a network. I think it was the visual provided by Nancy White that assisted me in comprehending the potential enormity of a network whereas a community or bounded group, as Nancy referred to them, have a common goal or a shared purpose. There is also the 'in between' which occurs when a group "outgrows itself" or "when a community develops out of a network".
The session allowed us all to practise/play in the role of Elluminate staff member or facilitator with all privileges. The idea of facilitating an Elluminate session is now one little bit less scary. As a result of our play we moved into discussing the role of facilitator and handing over control, Nancy got us thinking about how we would manage a large group of 200 in Elluminate, at which point some of us passed out (jokes). Something to consider perhaps for the distant future.
We also discussed summarising which I found really interesting and Nancy provided a reference to the work of Jerry Michalski's Yi-tan call, which is a great example of verbal summary, boy can that guy talk fast. Listening to his summary made me think about the differences between verbal & written summaries, there seems to be allowances for personal nuances in dialogue, in Jerry's case he often says "jumped in"..."Chris jumped in and talked about..." to indicate who spoke and what they talked about. These personal nuances of speech are yet another example of the facilitator/presenter expressing their individuality or their humanity to allow people to connect, how is this done in written form? I propose that it is harder to write with individuality, I might keep a look out for blog posts that achieve this sense of the presenter's individuality.
Rayna provides an open and honest account of what she experiences, this makes her blog easy to read & refreshing.
Is it easier to summarise verbally by re-reading ones notes from a session, this would be an interesting experiment for me to complete. Nancy suggested that it is interesting to compare summaries with those of another listener to see different perspectives that result from the same session.
Nancy gave us another reference during the session to the work of June Holley. June conveys some very interesting thoughts about networks. Always more to think about.
Hi Kim, just wondering what kind of an online network do you have?
ReplyDeleteHey Kim, I too think that we learn from listening to other's perspectives on similar shared experiences. It brings out the richness of being connected across cultures, across disciplines and across ages. The blog sharing in this course really does help draw out that shared experience filtered through a variety of lenses - our own. I've learned that here in Australia, we have a particular cultural approach to sharing online that is a little difference to other cultures. Have you noticed that? (In my opinion it is less formal and more like conversations.)
ReplyDeleteI have now been to June Holley's blog to discover more about her philosophy on Network Weaving - a concept that intrigues and confirms for me the effect of culture on our Australian online networking.
This concept is explored in Nancy White's book on Digital Habitats - she calls in 'stewarding'.
I believe that the task of making the links within nodes of a network is clearly the role of a steward or many stewards - each of whom 'facilitate' the growth of the connectedness - and enable to community to emerge.