Dialogue on the Internet: Myth or Possibility

1
Dialogue on the Internet Myth or Possibility
Sebastian Slotte and Raimo P. Hämäläinen
Systems Analysis Laboratory Helsinki University
of Technology http//www.sal.hut.fi
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Dialogue and Democracy

• Isegoria i.e. the ancient Greek idea of free and
  unrestricted right to partake in dialogue
• Dialogue is the primus motor of democracy as the
  generator
• of ideas, possibilities, viewpoints, sharing
  thoughts, understanding and interpretation
• Dialogue promotes inquiry rather than advocay and
  is an alternative to specious argumentation and
  cynical rhetorics

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Transformative Dialogue

• Enhancing and improving communication, knowledge
  creation and collaborative decision making
• Better and richer decision structuring, effective
  joint investigation, the seeing of possibilities
  of co-operation in conflict situations and
  democratic expression and investigation of ideas
• Facilitated
• Building capacity for dialogue by learning and
  practicing the arts of listening, respecting,
  suspending,voicing.

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Dialogue on the Internet

• Cezec-Kcmanovic et al. (2000) and Cezec-Kcmanovic
  (2001) Computer Mediated Communication affect on
  interaction and understanding
• Katzy et al (2000) recognize that mental models
  of participants affects how people understand and
  appropriate meanings for groupware.
• Also, the possibilities of role play, anonymity
  and restricted onymity on the net and its
  possibilities to foster inclusive dialogue and
  democratic participation have been studied
  (Balthazard and Potter, 2000).
• Some of the characteristics and traits of
  face-to-face dialogue is lost on the internet.
  The totality of human experience and interaction
  such as it is opened up in dialogue cannot
  completely be transformed to the internet.
• Aspects of face-to face dialogue can be
  transferred to the internet. These aspects
  concern the rules, guidelines and the etiquette
  of the communication.

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Traditional facilitation

• Enhancement of dialogical skills in individuals
• Skill focused
• Sensitivity to oneself
• Rules and methods are general and global

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Systems Intelligent Facilitation

• Systems Sensitive
• Alternative to moderation from above
• Rules and methods are specific and local
• Response focused
• References
• Systems Intelligence - Discovering a Hidden
  Competence in Human Action and Organizational
  Life, editors Raimo P. Hämäläinen and Esa
  Saarinen, Systems Analysis Laboratory, Research
  Reports A88.
• Slotte, S and Raimo P. Hämäläinen (2003).
  Decision Structuring Dialogue.Systems Analysis
  Laboratory Research Reports, E13.
• Slotte, S (2004) Systems Sensitive Dialogue
  Intervention. Manuscript.