Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Technography, copy breaks, Frontier and the Web

Author:Bernie DeKoven
Posted:5/17/1999; 4:12:00 PM
Topic:Technography, copy breaks, Frontier and the Web
Msg #:6373
Prev/Next:6372 / 6374

One of the things I learned to do early in the evolution of technography was to schedule regular "copy breaks" during a work session. At something like 90-minute intervals, we would stop the meeting, give everybody a "bio-break," and during that time print and copy the most recent notes.

The reason this paper-wasting process became so valuable to us has something to do with the psychology of getting published. Once people see their words in print, they tend to take them much more seriously. Sure, they saw their words being recorded as they said them. Sure, the immediate feedback helped them focus and maintain some semblance of clarity. But seeing their words in context, published, invariably made them take the whole thing more seriously. They'd ask if they could edit some of their comments. They'd ask each other questions. They'd sit quietly and review the progress of their work together. Using the Frontier outliner to facilitate remote participation gives us yet another kind of copy break. We can publish, instantly, to the web. Though it may not eliminate the need for hard copy, reading their words on the web, seeing their words reformatted into some lovely web layout, does in fact give people the same experience of being published, does in fact facilitate the same kind of active responsibility for the collective work.

Are you with me so far? Well this is about as far as I can go without you.

Here's the question: what else does this give us, this ability to publish instantly on the web? Clearly we are beyond hard copy here. Clearly we can add dynamic links. Clearly we can present the same data in a variety of different formats, each format somehow pointing out a different relationship, somehow creating a different focus. What do all these neat new opportunities mean for group process? What new level of accomplishment and reflection, ownership and participation can we bring people with this capacity for instant web-publishing? What kinds of new templates should we develop, new forms, new webbish tools that will further enable individual participation and collective accomplishment?

I, as usual, await your word.



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