Virtual conferences
To: Value-Networks@googlegroups.com
From:Andrew.Webster, kingbridgecentre.com
Subject:Networks and CollaborationWow, now that is a ridiculously broad subject line.
To begin concisely, I was hoping there may be some good ideas out there for how to use social networking tools as a means to begin conversations virtually and asynchronously before meetings or conferences. I have experienced several, but nothing satisfactory (not certain if platform, administrator or both are to blame.) They are like dating services, they are underused for a variety of excuses, and I’ve never seen a visual output to represent the dynamics of conversation that take place, only the dynamics that the profiling aspect recognizes. If anyone has seen a good model or a promising idea, please share.
The use of wikis as a pre and post meeting tool is becoming more widely adopted. They can be easy and cheap to create and maintain (www.wikispaces.com, www.wetpaint.com). I’m a big believer, but I’ve seen the ugly side as well. Are there alternatives anyone feels strongly about? How are you thought leaders and innately curious folk extending collaboration among a network beyond a central physical meeting?
I replied:
In terms of existing, IBM’s history flow is one static representation of conversation sediment build up over time.
What would be more useful is the means for participants going to conference to profile themselves and their goals and have this match people with one another before, during and after the event. The profiles would act as a weighted graph of attractors, pulling conceptually adjacent conversations into nearby virtual or real locations. Conceptually adjacent conversations would suggest new topics. I imagine a model of spring-weighted connections that represent the conversation choice dilemmas individuals would be faced with, and taken holistically, these dilemmas could be used to plan the timing of when the real-life conversation should occur. A mapping method could paint the idea value chain, in an idea landscape, and correlate who’s interested in each part and match that up with who has experience or network connections with such experience.
Virtual spaces such as Second Life are full of promise. Why limit to physical space? Why limit people to real time? You can replay time in the virtual world, and bring people back into conversations. In the virtual world you can multi-task so to participate in multiple conversations simultaneously.
What’s your take?
