Importance of faciliation in networks and communities

Lucie, Nadia and I have been running a 2 week online course for FAO staff titled "Introduction to Knowledge Sharing Networks and Communities". Last week, we discussed the importance of facilitation and how to build trust in networks and communities.

Here is a summary of the various points that came out in this discussion topic:

Why is facilitation important in networks and communities?

• To set the tone for a lively and productive discussion - create an open, friendly, yet goal-oriented atmosphere
• To keep things on track: the topic, the time allotted, to take note of issues that are off-topic but might be excellent for another discussion round
• To move ahead (and to avoid silent times, without activity)
• To achieve results
• To summarize/revise inputs from non-native English speakers so that their inputs are also shared with rest of the community.
• To ensure an open discussion, promote dialogue and ensure everyone’s opinions are heard
  

Finally, the biggest mistake in past networks was the create-it-and-they-will-come mindset. Networks are a lot of work! They usually need a lot of the facilitator(s)'s time in the beginning, when you need to kick it off.

How do we create the right environment to engage people and build trust?

• Remaining open and reactive (interactive)
• Setting a positive tone and welcoming new people
• Encouraging the quieter participants to join (or discover why they are not contributing.)
• Prodding the community with questions and summarizing the discussions
• Sharing useful information
• Maintaining/brining a sense/slice of humor
• Tactfully supporting non-native English speakers (editing their posts, encouraging participation by talking to them offline, etc)
• Going the extra kilometer and picking up the phone, calling on favors, cajoling, even pleading, if necessary!
• Remaining neutral - treating people how you want to be treated
• Taking care to watch over the tone and content of the material and ensuring the tone is open-minded, courteous and productive
  

Finally, for building trust, it's really a question of treating people the way you want to be treated. Creating a safe environment for sharing means that the facilitator is the guardian of the online space, where people look to you and mirror your behaviour.

Thank you Jean, Beate, Hivy, Kristin, Charmaine, Ilaria and Lucie for sharing your thoughts on this topic.

Quick Response (QR) Codes

I just came across an article about Quick Response (QR) Codes which is a bar code that can be read by mobile phones and can be used to encode all sorts of information, such as URLs, contact information, location data, text, etc. Due to their matrix structre, these two-dimensional codes hold much more data than the more common one-dimensional bar codes.

You can generate QR Codes for your own Web site, email address or telephone number at Kaywa. Once the data has been entered and the code generated, the code image can be scanned from the computer display and the mobile device can then immediately connect with the encoded information. Smartphones such as iPhone, Symbian and Android have softwares that can read these codes.

Here is the QR Code for this blog post.