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Dadamacadamy and etherpads - getting comfortable in our online spaces

Submitted by Pamela on 11 May 2011 - 12:11pm

I've been reflecting on the reality of the Dadamacadamy - and progress weve made recently using  etherpads. We've been using them for various topics but I want to reflect more on the process of using them (and other onine spaces) rather than the content of our meetings.

Etherpads

I have only recently come across etherpads - thanks to my involvement with Coalition of the Willing.

In COTW we use etherpads in parallel with a skype voice conference. In the Dadamacadamy it is simply not practical to include skype voice. We need to limit ourselves to text, and ideally it should be text that can be accessed by any online computer, with not need to dwonlaos any software. This is because I want the Dadamacadamy to be considerate to people and inclusive, which means accepting the limitations of low bandwidth, and people using public access terminals, etc.

"Ways of doing things"

Different online spaces have different characterists,. They offer different options to the users, and those characteristic options affect the ways people can behave in that space. If a number of people are using an onine space which is new to them then it can take time to develop "normal ways of doing things". Once these ways are established it is easy to take these ways for granted, but "normal ways of doing things" don't just happen, they evolve. Some little details of preferred group behaviour may seem trivial, but doing them right can make a big difference.

"When's the next meeting?"

A simple example of gettign thiings right comes from my earliest days of using instant messaging for meetings between UK and NIgeria. We soon learned that the very first item on the agenda should be to arrange the time of the next meeting. In normal face to face meetings checking diaries is often left to the end,  when people know how the meeting has gone, and what should be happening subsequently. However, with an African connection (and someone seldom able to get online, and the high possibility of a power outage) the most urgent thing to agree was when the next meeting could happen. That way, if a meeting ended part way through without warning (as often happened) we had a follow-up plan ready. Little details like that make all the difference.

Process is as important as product

We are curretly building up our "normal ways of doing things" on etherpads. This means that at present the "process" of the meetings is as important as the "product". For example we like to have an agenda - and it's a kind of 'three part" agenda - a sandwich of agendas. The agenda for the main meeting is sandwiched between a "post meeting agenda" of informal chat and farewells, and a "pre-meeting agenda" of meeting and greeting, discussing the proposed agenda for the main meeting, and generally getting organised. We use the main panel of the etherpad for the agenda and chat in the side panel. Little details are emerging of "how people usually behave" in ways that work well for us all.

The three part agenda

The three part agenda is important in enabling good relationship within the group, and we try to adopt this in all online, real-time meeting. Informal exchanges happen automatically in face to face meetings, in online meetings similar opportunities need to be planned in. it they are not, then the person-to-person dynamics are not comfortable.

A familiar name

i was at a webinar recently where, as I saw the names of other people who were logged in, I recognised a name that was familiar. It was a name I knew from email lists - someone I had read (and responded to) over a long period otf time, probably for years, but we had never met online "in real time"

It's easier F2F

If it has been a face-to-face (F2F) meeting and I had seen someone with that familiar name badge, i would have greeted him, checked if he was the person who I knew online, and we could have enjoyed meeting each otherr. As it was all I could do was pop a quick question into the chat channel, during the formal webinar session, just to ask if he was who i thought he was (and if so to say "hi"). i knew i shouldn't be doing "social chat" there then - but it felt very uncomfortable to ignore him. I wanted to acknowledge that I recognised his name and that, in normal F2F, i would have greeted him properly and enjoyed the opportunity fo getting to know him better.  He quickly acknoweldged that we did know each other, and that quick query and response felt much better than ignoring our possible existing connection.

It's not just 'the tech"

Meeting online is not just about "the tech". it is about the social aspects of meeting too, and these social aspects need to be planned for and managed. Paying attention to the social aspects can make all the difference in online meetings. It is true F2F and is just as important (or even more so) in online situations. There is a real difference between face-to-face receptions where people are helped to meet new people and everything flows smoothy, and other receptions where most guests are too shy to circulate, and there is no-one to help them, so they simply stick with the couple of people they already know. This is even more true in online situations. "Managing it right" may be impossible - but  being aware of the importance of social aspects online and trying to manage them is an important step in the right direction.

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