Re: OT ("communities of practice") listserv - forum facilitation FAQ

Oh sure, after I spent 30 minutes looking for it!

:)

Jared

On Wednesday 30 May 2001 11:11, Eric D. Pierce wrote:
> Bruce, Jared & folks,
>
> See below for the info I was looking for yesterday (I gave
> you the wrong site, sorry).
>
> regards,
> ep
>
> cc: bbergman_at_BridgeMedical.com
>
>
> http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/vcfaq/facfaq1.shtml
>
> version 0.9
> FAQ Editor: George Pór
>
> About this FAQ
> When and why forums have to be facilitated?
> What are the main roles and responsibilities in
> facilitating forums?
> System Administrator
> Account Administrator
> Forum Convener
> Community Architect
> Moderator
> Content Facilitator
> Cybrarian
>
>
>
> About this FAQ
>
> Most of the roles and responsibilities
> described in this FAQ are part of a new kind
> of work with no ready-made job-descriptions.
>
> The responses are definitely not definitive;
> they will change as our understanding of the
> requirements for effectively facilitating virtual
> communities will deepen through the feedback
> from, and collaboration with facilitators
> reading and contributing to this FAQ.
>
> When and why forums have to be facilitated?
>
> Facilitate = make easy, promote, help forward
> action or result. (Oxford Dictionary)
>
> Online facilitators or hosts are the primary
> enablers of any virtual community. It is their
> enthusiasm and attention to the participants
> challenges in communicating and collaborating
> in cyberspace, that can make or brake
> fledgling online communities. Without their
> efforts "it is difficult to build momentum,
> maintain the flow and generate the activity that
> will help to ensure return visits."
> (Denham Grey)
>
> Developing competence in facilitating the
> electronic meeting of minds that takes place in
> forums is a must in companies that want to turn
> the web tools and methods of coordination into
> a strategic advantage to achieve breakthrough
> results.
>
> The number of required facilitative functions
> is raising along the following continuum:
>
> Communities of interest (hobby groups) -->
> communities of practice (professional communities) -->
> communities of commitment (teams, taskforces, work groups).
>
> What are the main roles and
> responsibilities in facilitating
> forums?
>
> Responsibilities outlined under the following roles
> can be assumed by one or a few individuals in
> small virtual communities.
>
> In larger communities, they are divided among the
> participants of the facilitation team.
>
> System Administrator
>
> Participates in the administration of the server
> Contributes suggestions and implements
> software-related measures for maximizing uptime
> Maintains software integrity and forum security
> Provides other participants of the facilitation
> team and users with technical support
>
> Account Administrator
>
> Implements access privileges
> Issues or confirms user names and passwords in
> password-protected forums
>
> Forum Convener
>
> Forum Convener, sometimes also called
> chairperson, is a function of someone who has a
> major stake in the forums outcome(s), typically
> performed in task-oriented virtual communities.
>
> Community Architect
>
> Optimizes the community's structure and design to
> help it meet its purpose
>
> Using the appropriate combination of groupware
> features, designs virtual spaces to meet specific
> community functions
>
> Drafts guidelines for forum community norms
> ("community covenant")
>
> Writes and edits user agreements
>
> Designs the structure of initial topics
>
> Seeds topics with context-setting materials
>
> Designs strategy and mechanisms for collecting and
> incorporating feedback from participants
>
> Moderator
>
> The moderator, also called "host" or "organizer":
>
> Participates in the preliminary planning of the
> forum with the sysadmin, convener, and community
> architect
>
> Welcomes and acknowledges participants
>
> Stimulates participation and sustains interest
>
> Facilitates a healthy group dynamics conducive to
> higher quality contributions and achieving
> objectives in task-oriented forums
>
> Keeps the conversation focused on the purpose of
> the forum
>
> Provides pointers to sources of user support
>
> Models behaviors of effective communication and
> collaboration
>
> Provides closure: in task-oriented forums, s/he
> declares the forum or any topics of it closed, when
> its function is complete
>
> Content Facilitator
>
> The Content Facilitator, in some communities also
> called "learning guide" or "knowledge gardener":
>
> Seeds, feeds, and weeds the forum topics to trigger
> and maintain productive dialogues
>
> Introduces issue(s) and materials for discussion,
> provides additional information, ideas
>
> Provides ongoing editing to enhance the usefulness
> of content
>
> "Weaves" conversations -- highlights patterns of
> emerging meaning, solutions, or consensus, by
> pointing out relationships among ideas and
> information expressed and setting hypertext links
> between them
>
> Asks questions for consideration
>
> Synthesizes key points and themes
>
> Asks and inspires forum participants to help with
> all of the tasks above
>
> Cybrarian
>
> The cybrarian helps users overcome information
> overload, navigate the forums,and access or receive
> the information when they need it and how they
> need it. She or he:
>
> Maintains forum indices
>
> Writes conversation summaries
>
> Creates and updates dynamic maps of forum topics
> and threads
>
> Decides how should forums, topics, and messages
> be linked to corresponding libraries on the
> community's website
>
> Archives/compacts forum according to agreed on
> forum norms
>
> Suggests filters, priority flags, and hot spots
>
> Compiles list of links pointing to off-forum
> resources relevant to specific forums
>
> Please send your suggestions for changes and
> additions to George Pór at gpor_at_co-i-l.com
>
> © 1997, Community Intelligence Labs, Soquel, CA,
> USA. We believe in sharing intellectual property freely,
> but also in giving credit to its creators.
>
> ---end---

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-- 
Author: Jared Still
  INET: jkstill_at_cybcon.com

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