What does it take for online collaboration to work with events?

I'm doing some work with Steve Moore and colleagues at Policy Unplugged, where we are mixing social conferencing events with before and after online activity on a multi-user blog space ... so I'm on the look-out for other examples of this type of mix, and what works and what doesn't.

The most recent event was Bricking it where Johnnie Moore worked his magic as open space facilitator, and within three hours had more than a hundred people generating a score of conversations around issues of globalisation. Pictures and video  clips here. The meeting technology is clearly excellent, and so is the Drupal-based blogging system  developed with Robert Castelo. The challenge for this and future events is how to help participants make most effective use of the system, in ways that really add some value to the face to face experience.  I'll be exploring this in more detail, but for now was struck by an item on the ever-excellent Anecdote blog - Why people don't use collaboration tools. There Shawn Callahan develops themes originally raised by Dave Pollard, first on his blog and then actually using a collaborative writing tool, Writely. Dave and Shawn produce a useful analysis of the barriers to using online collaboration ... see the Anecdote post.
Not many people used the Writely tool to develop ideas further, and Shawn observes that perhaps collaboration requires a strong need to work together. In other words, it is down to purpose, motivation - and whether people feel it worth the investment of their time to use the tools. If you are a team spread around the globe, with tight project deadlines, it is clearly worth making the effort. If you are going to get together with people face to face, where is the added benefit of blogging and commenting before and after?
I believe there are major benefits ... making sure you meet people that look interesting, by reading their profiles online ... raising your own profile ... flagging up issues you want raised .... providing background reading ... carrying the conversation on afterwards ... building up your social network.
But then, that's just my view. The people who really know are the people who come the event, so we need to start that conversation with them. One of the people contributing to the Bricking it event was Leon Benjamin, author of Winning by Sharing, and as you can see in this video clip I asked him what he thought the solutions to the challenges posed by globalisation might be. His response - I don't know, but together we can work it out. I hope the same applies to collaborative tools.

Comments

[Beth]

As you know, I've written about this topic - and have a post that points to this post as well as the ideas and reflections from several colleagues and examples.

[Beth]

As you know, I've written about this topic - and have a post that points to this post as well as the ideas and reflections from several colleagues and examples.

I've been dumping the links into writely document
http://www.writely.com/View.aspx?docid=ah967qmsphwn_8dwhf2s
and it would fun to all collaborate on a article ...

[Brian Kelly]

I've been involved in similar work in the higher education community: using online technologies to support events , reflecting on what works and what doesn't and providing advice on best practices.

Some examples, papers, etc.:

Papers:

Using Networked Technologies To Support Conferences
Kelly, B., Tonkin, E. and Shabajee, P. EUNIS 2005 Conference Proceedings (CD ROM)

Documents (with Creative Commons licence):

Guidelines For Exploiting WiFi Networks At Events, (briefing 107)
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/documents/briefings/briefing-107/

Exploiting Networked Applications At Events, (briefing 106)
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/documents/briefings/briefing-106/

Use Of Social Tagging Services At Events, (briefing 105)
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/documents/briefings/briefing-105/

Guide To The Use Of Wikis At Events, (briefing 104)
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/documents/briefings/briefing-104/

Workshops:

Enough Talking - Let's Use The Next Generation Technologies!
Workshop session on "Enough Talking - Let's Use The Next Generation Technologies!" at the "ALT-C 2006 Conference" at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh on 6th September 2006.

Institutional Web Management Workshop 2006:

Emerging Technologies and the 'Net Generation'

Initiatives & Innovation: Managing Disruptive Technologies:
Joint UCISA/UKOLN/CETIS workshop on Initiatives & Innovation: Managing Disruptive Technologies. University of Warwick on Friday 24th February 2006.

Supporting Technology-Facilitated Learning In The Conference Environment:
Workshop at EUNIS 2005 conference at Manchester University, on 21st June 2005.

Beyond Email: Strategies For Collaborative Working In The 21st Century:
Workshop with UCISA on 22nd November 2004 at Weetwood Hall, University of Leeds.

Forthcoming Workshop:

Exploiting The Potential Of Wikis
Brian Kelly is the co-chair and a speaker at a workshop on "Exploiting The Potential Of Wikis" to be held at Austin Court, Birmingham on 3rd November 2006.
See