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Smarter Socially Mediated Conversations ECSM 2014

Smarter Socially Mediated Conversations ECSM 2014, Brighton University

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Smarter Socially Mediated Conversations ECSM 2014

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  1. Smarter Socially Mediated Conversations ECSM 2014 Brighton

  2. Gurteen Knowledge Café Sept 2002

  3. The Knowledge Café • The purpose of the Café is to bring a group of people together to have a conversation on a topic of mutual interest • The aims include: – the surfacing of the group's collective knowledge – learning from each other – sharing ideas and insights – gaining a deeper understanding of the topic & the issues involved – and exploring possibilities • It also helps: – connect people – improve inter-personal relationships – breaks down organisational silos – improves trust and engagement • It is a social face to face process

  4. The Knowledge Café Process • Speed Networking • Speaker makes short presentation • Poses question • Small group conversations at tables • Three rounds of conversation • Whole group conversation in a circle • Share actionable insights • Approx two hours in total

  5. Café Stories UK Spain Norway Russia USA Singapore Hong Kong Indonesia Malaysia Thailand Australia Colombia Brazil New Zealand South Africa India Egypt Croatia Denmark Portugal Netherlands Germany UAE

  6. Jakarta 2007 Knowledge Sharing Workshop Lesson: Own language

  7. Malaysia 2008 IBM Workshop Lesson: People like to stay in their comfort zone

  8. Lesson: Small groups work well, large groups do not Thailand 2008 University of Bangkok

  9. Abu Dhabi 2011 Lesson: Some people are very uncomfortable talking

  10. Barriers to Conversation

  11. Poor English Lack of confidence in English language ability

  12. Fear of loss of face • Saying something stupid • Making yourself look foolish • Lack of confidence • Fear of dominant people

  13. Fear of causing someone else to lose face Possibly a bigger fear than losing face oneself especially if the person is an authoritive figure

  14. Deference to Authority Singapore workshop story

  15. Humility • Sense of humility • Who am I to express an opinion?

  16. Culture Story of Chinese woman in Norway - education - don’t question authority

  17. Barriers 1. Poor English 2. Loss of face 3. Causing someone else to lose face 4. Deference to authority 5. Humility 6. Culture These traits are dominant in SE Asian Cultures but also exist in our Western Cultures

  18. Some Research Findings on Conversation

  19. Why is conversation easy? • Presenting & listening to speeches should be more straightforward than holding a conversation • This is clearly not the case • Conversation is easy because of an interactive processing mechanism that leads to the alignment of linguistic representations between partners • Humans are ‘designed’ for dialogue rather than monologue The reason I started my Knowledge Cafés Why is conversation so easy? Simon Garrod; Martin J. Pickering

  20. Influence of group size • In large, 10-person groups, communication is like monologue – members are influenced most by the dominant speaker • In small, 5-person groups, communication is like dialogue – members are influenced most by those with whom they interact in the discussion The size of my small Café groups Group Discussion as Interactive Dialogue or as Serial Monologue: The Influence of Group Size Nicolas Fay; Simon Garrod; Jean Carletta

  21. Friends with cognitive benefits • Talking with other people in a friendly way can make it easier to solve common problems • Conversations that are competitive in tone, rather than cooperative, have no cognitive benefits • Executive function: working memory, self-monitoring and focus • Skills that are critical to problem solving Speed Networking Friends (and Sometimes Enemies) With Cognitive Benefits Oscar Ybarra, Piotr Winkielman, Irene Yeh, Eugene Burnstein, Liam Kavanagh

  22. Social sensitivity • Group intelligence relates to HOW members of a team talk to each other • Depends on social sensitivity of the group members • Readiness of group to allow members to take equal turns in the conversation • Groups where one person dominates are less collectively intelligent than in groups where the conversational turns are more evenly distributed No Café table leaders Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups Anita Williams Woolley, Christopher F. Chabris, Alexander Pentland, Nada Hashmi,Thomas W. Malone

  23. Knowledge Café Principles

  24. Café Principles • Relaxed, non-threatening, open conversation – Close to a pub or café conversation • Everyone equal; no table leaders or report back • No one forced to do anything – OK to just listen • Trust people to talk about what is important – OK to go off-topic 1. No fear 2. No coercion 3. No leaders 4. No hierarchy 5. No capture 6. No control • No capture of outcomes – Outcomes are what people take away in their heads

  25. So what does this mean for online discussion forums & a potential virtual knowledge cafe?

  26. Properties of many Forums • English is the lingua franca • Large number of people • Open to anyone • No idea who is in the forum • Do not know the people • No idea of the authority figures • No idea of the trolls • Everything is recorded • 90:9:1 law Barriers 1. Poor English 2. Loss of face 3. Causing someone else to lose face 4. Deference to authority 5. Humility 6. Culture

  27. Nature of many Forum Conversations • Posts tend to be monologues • Posts often very lengthy • Grandstanding • Responses carefully thought through • More debate/argument than dialogue • Trolls & “intellectual trolls” thrive • Easy to misunderstand someone • Not easy to correct misunderstandings Barriers 1. Poor English 2. Loss of face 3. Causing someone else to lose face 4. Deference to authority 5. Humility 6. Culture

  28. So what’s the solution?

  29. Some Ideas? Barriers 1. Poor English 2. Loss of face 3. Causing someone else to lose face 4. Deference to authority 5. Humility 6. Culture • Specific language forums • Peers only • Clear who is in the forum • Ability to edit/delete posts • Do not store threads for long • Small groups (3 or 4 people) • Permission to join conversations • Limit size of posts • Real time discussions Café Principles 1. Small groups 2. Socialization 3. No fear 4. No coercion 5. No leaders 6. No hierarchy 7. No capture 8. No control

  30. Randomised Coffee Trials • In large organizations not easy for people to connect & build relationships • Nesta • Cabinet Office • Mars • RSA • KHDA (Dubai) • DfE • Scottish Government • RCTs pair people at random for coffee once a week • Bank of England connects 4 people & call it “Coffee Fours” • SABMiller have “Randomized Beer Collaborations”! Can be done virtually over Skype or Google Hangouts

  31. Telepresence – a blended solution?

  32. • Beam+ • Double Robotics

  33. Before I take questions, first I have a question for you  

  34. How do you think we could improve engagement in online forums & how do we improve the quality of those conversations?

  35. Questions

  36. www.gurteen.com David GURTEEN Gurteen Knowledge Fleet, United Kingdom Tel: +44 7774 178 650 Email: david.gurteen@gurteen.com

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