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Re: [ba-ohs-talk] Thinking about asynchronous IBIS (possibly longish, sorry)


Jack Park wrote:    (01)

> At http://groups.yahoo.com/group/unrev-II/message/40
> I mentioned the idea of a Glass Bead Game.  Certainly not an original idea
> of mine; rather, it came from Hermann Hesse, and has been picked up in a
> lot of places (just google it to find out!).
> ...
> Situation C: asynch BeadMaster-facilitated IBIS at a web site
>         A question is posed
>         Students post responses
>         Responses go to a hidden site for evaluation by facilitator(s)
>         Facilitators summarize responses and post new question
>         Students later respond to new question
>         continue    (02)

Fascinating. This approach dovetails with my observation that a really
fun, engaging dialogue is question-centric -- where all parties take the
tidbits that are revealed as an opportunity to ask new questons.    (03)

It's amazing how fast that process escalates to "what are our goals?",
and even "Do we even have similar (or compatible) goals?"    (04)

On the other hand, it's equally amazing how fast issues resolve when
those fundamental questions are answered. If there is no agreement,
then folks agree to disagree, recognize the lack of basis for collaboration,
and move on.    (05)

If they do agree, then the high-level goals become the razor that guide
decision-making lower down.    (06)

I think that defining facilitation as a process of question-formulation is
brilliant.    (07)

On the other hand, whether the summary-process is helpful or a hindrance
will depend a lot on the facilitator. Sometimes, summarizing drops out vital
details (which produces the potential for competing summaries).    (08)

Here, I note that when I describe a situation to different people -- people
who's advice I trust -- they ask different questions, summarize the situation
differently, and make different recommendations.    (09)

I discover a lot in that process, so I'm more inclined to view summary-generation
as a series of 1-on-1 interactions, each of which produces a different flavor
summary. I think a model that works more like that makes more sense for
summarizing.    (010)

That leads to the need for competing summaries, or ways of framing the issue,
and different perspectives. However, it is precisely from those differing
perspective that the larger questions arise. The facilitors I have observed
are adept at recognizing those situations, and asking those questions.
For example, "what's more important here -- good taste or less filling?".    (011)