On Mon, 23 Sep 1996, Sherri Malouf wrote:
> I have a proposal.
>
> I have observed many discussions on this list and many come close to
> dialogue but don't quite get there because of the tendency towards
> advocacy as opposed to inquiry.
>
> How about if, instead of discussing what it takes to dialogue, we actually
> conduct one?
One way we might sharpen our thinking about dialogue is to discuss what
dialogue is in comparison to something we all know -- our discussion here.
What would need to be different in order for the interchange here on
learning-org to be a real dialogue? That is, what would dialogue be in
comparison to what we are doing here?
I have no objection to the on-line dialogue experiment you propose, but I
cannot invest more time (I've got my hands full frankly with my moderator
role in the current discussion). There are several attempts to create real
dialogue on the net (I'm involved in a couple of these) and it's clear to
me that deep, intensely human, meaningful communications can occur on the
net. Some have certainly occured here on LO. I believe that a real
community can exist where their primary (perhaps even exclusive)
communication is electronic.
> I realize it is very difficult, many would say impossible, to have an
> internet dialogue because of the need to be in the same room, and sense
> what is going on, etc. But what if we had some guidelines. For example;
>
> 1/ we will let it run ten to twenty days
> 2/ only one person we select will make process observations -- say every
> couple of days
> 3/ stay on subject -- so tie in statements to subject line
> 4/ come from your gut not your head
> 5/ be brief
> 6/ favor inquiry over advocacy - use paraphrasing over logic
> 7/ assess how we did at the end
>
> I have an lo subject in mind.
One approach would be to address your topic here on learning-org, but with
different rules and practices for the thread. Perhaps a designated
thread-moderator (i.e., not me). Too many such "special" topics would get
out of hand, but... Hmmm... This sounds like an interesting experiment.
--Richard Karash ("Rick") | <http://world.std.com/~rkarash> Speaker, Facilitator, Trainer | email: rkarash@karash.com "Towards learning organizations" | Host for Learning-Org Mailing List (617)227-0106, fax (617)523-3839 | <http://world.std.com/~lo>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>