Greetings, Setting the tone, creating the norms, sculpting the culture...this is our task in the next few weeks on click4hp...together. Mike Nelson wrote: >One of the most difficult problems I have in using listservs like this are not knowing >my audience, being uncertain of the norms governing interaction, and as a consequence >of the foregoing being afraid of making a fool of myself. Barbara Kass responded with humour and: > >I really would not worry about how people respond to you,....Netiquette (sp?) only >requires the same courtesy you extend in three dimensional life. I would take this one step further... I have begun to use the internet to do my work and had no previous computer knowledge before that. I have had fun rolling out my work on-line with some very subtle shifts...for example setting the tone online can be very helpful in reducing the fears people have about posting not unlike beginning a meeting by going around the table. As I sat for the first time (having just had computer conference facilitator added to my job description and barely a clue..;-) I just decided to treat it like any other meeting I had ever set up and facilitated and never looked back. There are differences and you have to look in different places for the cues. I continue to learn these skills with help of my mentors, Simon Mielniczuk from the OPC and Sam Lanfranco from York University. People seem to feel more confident to post when they are able to be in at the beginning to set the overlying principles / norms for the list don't you think? I have recently had the experience of starting, with others, a very busy discussion about the cuts to public spending and the reinventing of gov't here in Ontario. It is peopled by every walk of life and filled with political debate...occasional attack...info, updates and soon the capacity to download tracking impacts tools so folks can track similar data around the province. Setting norms for participation has evolved over time, each norm is set as the need arises and then I repost the list of norms to date. We set up a sister conference to talk strategy. It is also an online classroom for new facilitators to lurk, try, be mentored, and learn. In fact I supervised a student in there this year. We have about three old hands, myself, some quick learning newbies. Participants from the main conference can post queries, alert us to problems, and make suggestions or just come in to see why we are making decisions and how. This keeps the detail on the how to's out of the noise of the the main space. When I am getting ready to set a norm I post the reason and potential response and ask for help. People jot down their reactions, feelings, suggestions and then I incorporate and repost in the main space as a facilitators note. I am finding the list a little hard to work in because I have to cut and paste between emails...the conference tends to self-organize more effectivly. One aspect of facilitation has become for me, the art of interpreting the silence or should I say reinterpreting...For instance the list went quiet for a day which lead me to move through about three tests...new/therefore unfamiliar, people didn't like my post, there is a problem with the listserv/gateway at York University. (It was the listserv!) No quick assumptions...continuing to develop healthy skepticism. ;-) Cheers...Liz Rykert <[log in to unmask]>