Jul 10 2008
The World Cafe Community - Virtual Cafes?
There is a very interesting conversation buzzing around in various locations online about how to do World Cafes online. I am feeling tortured, because I’d like to be fully participating, but due to the “to do list” I’m watching from the side. I think there is much more here than looking at how to do World Cafe gatherings online, but in a larger sense, how do we best utilize convening methods from our F2F practices in a distributed environment - and all the juicy questions that go along with it. For me, some of the key questions include:
- What methods can “translate” into an online space - why or why not? What do we even mean by “translate?”
- Are we being strategic and clear about what method to use when - online or off. In other words, lets not do the “move our dysfunctional offline meetings into the online space.” The bottom line is creating interactions that matter - online or off.
- What are the social implications?
- What are the technical implications? Existing and potential tools (especially free or low cost tools)?
The main thread about virtual World Cafe’s is on the World Cafe’s community space here –> The World Cafe Community - Virtual Cafes?. Some other side shoots and resources:
- Loretta Donovan’s article Wired Discovery: New Conversations and Deeper Connections
- Chris Heuer’s blog post Living in the Era of Conversation
- Ria Beck on Virtual Hosting
- Edna Pasher from 1998’s Knowledge Ecology Fair story, How to Lead a Virtual Workshop (yes, I was involved with the KE Fair and it is interesting to see what has changed and what has stayed the same!)
Truly, I’d love a month to research this sort of thing and things like useful patterns and practices in online events… and so many other things. Maybe in December…. 
Wow - this is so important - I am with you, I wish there was more time in the day to help with this - if anyone wants to reach out to me every so often for some input, I would gladly try to contribute in some small way. Perhaps this can be discussed more at the NCDD conference in person… I am really hoping to go this year.
Obviously my search algorithms suck because I’m just finding this post!
Thanks for engaging on this point, Nancy! I didn’t even know you were reading the World Café conversations, and I’m delighted to hear what thoughts it triggered in you.
I’d love to sit around a table, whether it be physical or virtual, and explore the set of questions you raise … not only because (as you say) they are so rich and so juicy, :-), but also because I think they are key to our understanding of the possibilities of online communications. Not only in relation to the formal opportunities for “convening conversations” we were talking about in the World Cafe community thread, but also for our more informal online interactions.
I continue to feel the powerful potential this medium has in helping us collectively “co-evolve our future/s”, and this conversation feels like an important one to have within that context.
So, in response to Chris’ point, was there any follow up on this at the NCDD conference this year?