[Winona Online Democracy]
Dwayne (& others), I had to smile when I read your suggestion of having a group of "unofficial facilitators" . . . this is the exact idea that we came up with several months ago after reading the responses to the member survey last June. As a result of discussions on this issue, I developed a curriculum called "The Art of Online Discussion" with the purpose of training people to become informal facilitators of online dialogue. Last September, I announced that we would be offering it as an online course to anyone from Winona Online Democracy who was interested. We have five people who are just in the process of completing the course. Following the course, I am going to do some revisions to it based on our first experience and then offer it again in the coming months. I'd encourage anyone who is interested in helping make Winona Online Democracy into more of a "deliberative discussion" to email me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] so I can let you know when the next online class will be starting. I have included detailed information about the course below (a copy of the message I posted last September) including a syllabus. I too am interested in keeping the discussion on the list as productive and civil as possible. In several instances in the past couple of months, I have been concerned that the tenor of the discussion was having a negative impact and discouraging participation from a broader group of people. I think if a significant number of people participated in the course, it would go a long way toward encouraging a true deliberative democracy in our community. -Steve Kranz -Winona Online Democracy WINONA ONLINE DEMOCRACY OFFERS FREE COURSE IN ONLINE FACILITATION ------------------------------------------------------------------ As you may know, the mission of Winona Online Democracy is to ". . . empower, inform, and engage the citizenry by creating an ongoing community-wide discussion of local public issues. It seeks to reawaken a spirit of more active participation in civic life and provide an environment in which learning and knowledge building can take place. It seeks to be an agent for change in our community by improving the quality of decision making and providing a direct link between the public and community leaders." The goal of our first year was to build a sustainable discussion that includes a variety of citizens, elected officials and community leaders. Having achieved that goal, we look forward in the next year to increasing the number and diversity of citizens participating and to creating an environment that allows citizens and elected officials to have meaningful, productive, discussions that can contribute to an ever improving quality of life in our community. Based on the survey that we completed several weeks ago (thanks to everyone who took the time to complete it), there are two enhancements to Winona Online Democracy that we hope to make in the coming months. First, is to establish a series of "Virtual Town Hall Meetings" in which we invite elected officials and other community leaders to be a "featured guest" who will take questions and participate in the discussion on Winona Online Democracy for a defined time period. We hope this will prove to be a good way for elected officials and other policy makers to become more involved in the discussion and provide more opportunities for the public to provide input and receive feedback. Our second goal is to work towards making the online discussion as thoughtful and deliberative as possible. We think that one way to encourage this type of discussion would be to provide facilitation of the discussion that will help guide the dialogue and encourage broad participation. To that end, we have developed a course that combines traditional facilitation skills with the special considerations of communicating online and civic engagement. The five-week course will take place online beginning October 1st and will be offered free of charge to any members of Winona Online Democracy. The goal of this training is to develop a cadre of facilitators (5-10) with a skill set that combines traditional group facilitation techniques with the unique demands inherent to online discussion and civic dialogue. At the end of the training, the facilitators will be able to work together to create and maintain an environment in which deliberative dialogue can take place on Winona Online Democracy. The online class is a combination of reading, performing online research, participating in online class discussions and practicing facilitation skills. There will also be three face-to-face informal get togethers to discuss the training. We anticipate that those who participate in the five-week course can expect to spend about 5 hours a week on the training. One of the advantages of online training is that you can "attend class" whenever it is convenient for you and don't need to be tied to specific times that you must dedicate to the training. This is a unique opportunity. As far as we know, this is the first curriculum created that is focused on "Online Facilitation for Civic Engagement". It is also a chance for you to learn more about online civic discussion and contribute to the success of Winona Online Democracy. Our overriding goal is to increase the quality of life in our community and, by participating, you can have a real impact in working towards that goal and giving people a voice in community affairs. If you have an interest in "lifelong learning", this is also an opportunity to learn skills that can benefit you in a variety of situations. If you are interested in participating or have any questions, please email me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] An overview of the course is listed below. Online Facilitation for Civic Engagement - Schedule ---------------------------------------------------- 1. Kick off event. Gathering that includes all students 2. Week One A. Introduction. The Introduction will include articles about democracy, civic engagement and the role of online discussion. Participants will review other discussion groups on the Internet and find examples of facilitation in action. They will discuss their findings, as well as discuss how online discussion can contribute to the "civic health" of a community. B. The Nature of Dialogue. Participants will read articles that discuss how people communicate in both positive and negative ways. Findings from two books will be featured: "The Argument Culture" and "Dialogue: the Art of Thinking Together". Online audio interviews of one of the authors will be featured. Students will examine discussion archives to look for examples of the types of communication discussed in the articles. They will also engage in a role playing discussion to highlight examples of Argument and Dialogue. 3. Week Two Week two will introduce the concept of "Deliberative Democracy". Participants will read articles on Understanding Deliberative Dialogue and Perspectives on Deliberative Democracy. They will review other online democracy projects and discuss their findings. They will also discuss the status of "democracy" in Winona and how Winona Online Democracy fits in. 4. Week Three The third and fourth week will focus on the role of the facilitator and specific skills and techniques. During the third week participants will learn about how online discussion groups progress, how to create an environment that is conducive to deliberative dialogue and how to refine discussion topics so they contribute to the mission of Winona Online Democracy. At the end of the third week, there will be a face-to-face meeting to discuss the training. 5. Week Four The fourth week will focus on qualities of discussion and how to help increase understanding among discussion participants. Areas to be covered will include: encouraging more integrated perspectives, encouraging multi-lateral thinking, identifying a deliberative discussion, and dealing with issues of ideological conflict. Participants will review discussion archives to find examples of the issues presented and discuss their findings with each other. 6. Week Five The final week will consist of a multi-day active role play in which the facilitator cadre will facilitate a discussion with active posters. Afterwards, the participants will debrief and discuss the training. At the end of week five there will be a final face-to-face get together and an opportunity to provide feedback on the course experience. If you would like to participate in the course, please email [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dwayne Voegeli" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, November 19, 2001 9:06 AM Subject: Re: [Winona] Show some respect! > > [Winona Online Democracy] > > I'm not speaking for anybody else but myself. > > I wish to thank Chris Neslon for his bluntness and honesty. Let's keep > "going there" for a minute more. > > I guess I view this cyberspace thing we call an e-mail listserve as family > instead of a group of friends. > > We can pick our friends. > > We can't pick our family but we love them anyway. In the case of Winona > Online Democracy, maybe loving each other is a bit too grand right now but > even though we can't pick our "brothers and sisters" in Online Democracy, > we should respect them no matter what. > > Part of what makes families so wonderful is their diversity and weirdness, > my family included. Part of the reason families are so close is that they > have to work through differences. Rarely are family differences or > problems handled in perfect or clinical ways. (I don't know about your > families but my family was a disaster zone at times.) Yet with time, > patience, forgiveness, and love they make it through the rought times. > > So, what's Voegeli's point? He seems to be rambling on AGAIN! > > My point is this, I think we seem to be having a rough time right now in > Online Democracy based on the comments of Chris Nelson and Jim Sjoberg. > > I know Chris Nelson and I deeply respect his views and what he does. I > think our fence could be mended with more time to allow us to better > understand each other. For example, I said something in one of my last > e-mails that was probably unfair to Chris. I'm sorry about that, looking > at it again I should have been more careful with my words. > > As to Jim Sjoberg, unfortunately I don't know him. I'm not sure where all > his anger and angst is coming from but I respect those feelings even though > I don't understand them. I hope we can keep on talking about subjects AND > how we talk with each other. > > Whatever community diaglogue or democratic discourse is, it's imperfect. > We all need to get better at it, me included. We all need to pout less and > be more patient, me included. We all need to keep on practicing, me > included. > > What do people think of this idea? > > Could we create or empower some small group of people to operate as > UNOFFICIAL moderators or "vibe checkers"? > > I know Steve Kranz already does this in a way but what I have in mind is a > more suped up version of that. > > What I have in mind is some kind of combination of Miss Manners, Grandma, > Judge Judy, and Voltaire. They could possibly offer feedback or > suggestions on particular conversations. Maybe they could offer once a > week/month feedback or advice on what is working and not working. > > What I have in my mind is NOT some kind of sensibility censor or PC police. > It would be a group of people who has no real power. > > What I have in mind is NOT some kind of "Minnesota Nice" where we all agree > to smile, ignore tough issues, and go-along-to-get-along like some big > extended dysfunctional family. > > The name or label we give this small group of people is not important, if > people think "vibe checker" is too warm and fuzzy, we can come up with > something else. > > Who could do this? > > For starters, how about these names? > > 1. Steve Kranz > > 2. Virginia Laken > > 3. Duane Peterson > > 4. Others? > > > What do others think of this idea? > > Dwayne Voegeli > > > =========================================================== --------------- This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy Please visit http://onlinedemocracy.winona.org to subscribe or unsubscribe All messages sent to the list must be signed with your actual name. Posting of commercial soliticitations is not allowed on this list. Report problems or questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
