Resources for Volunteer Moderators and Faciliators
of Online Discussion Groups
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The
Moderator's Home Page
Resources for Moderators and Facilitators of Online Discussion
A growing set of resources, mostly scholarly, for moderators of
online discussions, including chats, email lists, and newsgroups.
This is an extensive bibliography of netiquette guides, sample
editorial policies, using online discussion groups in classrooms,
tips for moderating, and information on teaching online.
Internet Discussion Groups For Volunteers
Developed by the Virtual Volunteering Project. Discusses different
roles volunteers can take on as part of an email-based discussion
group or list, how to keep discussions active, and how to find
existing lists for volunteers.
Using
Real-Time Communications With Volunteers
Developed by the Virtual Volunteering Project. A growing number
of organizations are using real-time communications -- usually
called "chats" -- to hold online meetings with volunteers, or to
allow volunteers to interact with staff, clients, or each other.
This resource reviews different roles volunteers can take on as
part of a chat, how to keep discussions active, and examples of
chats at various agencies.
Facilitating an Online Discussion
General considerations to help promote a group discussion,
options for initiating an online discussion, what to watch
for when moderating a discussion, and resources to help
moderators work with people on education projects online.
These resources are designed for online course instructors,
but are applicable to any online discussion group. Part
of an online curriculum produced by the Annenberg/CPB Projects,
focused on using telecommunications and media to improve
teaching and learning.
The Self-Help Sourcebook Online
Sponsored by Mental Health Net. If you are interested in starting
or participating in an online or offline self-help group,
this resource offers ideas for starting both online and
offline groups, how to arrange online support group meetings
on commercial networks, how to encourage participation
in online support groups, a searchable database of hundreds
of national and demonstrational model self-help support
groups, and opportunities to link with others to develop
needed new national or international groups.
WELL Community Guidelines
An excellent example of rules for online communities and moderators.
Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link (WELL) began in 1985, starting
with a dialog between the writers and readers of the Whole
Earth Review. The WELL is now a "cluster of electronic
villages on the Internet." There are more than 260 Conferences
open to WELL members, covering subject categories such
as "Parenting," "The Future," or "Pop Culture." WELL members
have founded advocacy organizations like the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, and their experiences have been used
to explore online culture and community (such as in Howard
Rheingold's The Virtual Community).
Online Culture: Communicating Via E-mail
Learning to communicate in text-only can be a challenge for some
people. Sometimes, you have to interpret people's communication
and assist them to be clear and effective online. The Virtual
Volunteering Project has compiled advice to help you think
about the different ways people, particularly volunteers, interpret
information via email. Includes links to MANY other resources
regarding online culture and online communities.
Facilitator Tip of the Week
Learn the three reasons people disagree, the four crucial elements
of your opening, five ways to avoid lulls while writing,
four consensus building strategies, the secrets of a great
starting question, etc. By Leadership Strategies - The
Facilitation Company, and their web site features other
facilitation tips as well.
Online Community Resources
A large, comprehensive set of resources on building and sustaining
online communities. Also has an excellent list of online
discussion groups relating to online culture and online
facilitation. Highly recommended.
International Association of Facilitators
The IAF purpose is "to promote, support and advance the art
and practice of ethical facilitation." It is a membership organization
that helps members increase facilitation expertise, learn state
of the art facilitation techniques, raise team skills, and
share methodologies. IAF sponsors Group Facilitation (Grp-Facl),
an e-mail based moderated discussion group on the practice
and theory of group facilitation. Participants are practicing
group facilitators who work in diverse fields such as: meeting
facilitation; conflict resolution; large group interventions;
organization development; Total Quality Management; electronic
meeting systems; strategic planning; team building; project
management; and community planning. Subscription details are
on the IAF web site.
Computer Aided Facilitation Tips
An excellent list of tips for both those who will facilitate
an online discussion group and the agency who will sponsor
such. By Facilitate.com, a for-profit company and producer
online conferencing tools.
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