[iDC] Conferencing Formats and Welome to Marc Tuters

[patrick lichty]

This is a strange coincidence, as there are a few points I'd like to
contribute on the subject.  

As far as formats are concerned, a pleasant surprise was the instance in
which Nathan Martin and I co-chaired an intervention on collaboration at
the Open Collaboration event in Buffalo.  I structured the event as a
FLUXUS-style 'performance' in which Nathan and I would engage in a
loosely scripted conversation regarding collaboration and networked
culture.  

The hope with this was that we would rope people into the conversation
and then create a Flusser-inspired system of information production
through guided dialogue, rather than unidirectional discourse.  After
FOUR HOURS (part of the format), we had a vibrant conversation going
with people like Andrea Polli (Hunter, NYC) and Sher Doruff (Waag
Foundation, Netherlands).  We could have gone another two hours before
the conversation would have died out, I think.

Another model I'd love to try comes from Managerial Cyberneticist
Stafford Beer, in his (expensive!) book, "Beyond Dispute". In it, he
creates a model of decision making based on a model he calls Team
Syntegrity, which draws on everythi9ng to Fuller's geodesic geometry to
Sufi mysticism.  The goal is to use an equally-weighted model based on
the geometric structure of the isocahedron (the vertices being the
decision-making groups) to create a remarkably 'flat' dialogical space.
It was a fairly tough read, and requires 100 people to make it work.  In
addition, it does require some facilitation, making it not entirely
flat, but close.

But, keeping all of this in mind, I think that there are other models of
dialogue, discussion, and decision-making that could be beneficial to
the intellectual community, these being only a couple.   

Patrick Lichty
Editor-In-Chief
Intelligent Agent Magazine
http://www.intelligentagent.com
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