Making deliberative dialogue work onlineWith DAN POPPING

What is dialogue?

• A conversation between two or more people• Embodies goodwill towards others, it’s not about winning an

argument• Rather, to suspend one’s own opinions and look at others to

see if some meaning can be derived from the dialogue• An exchange of ideas and opinions on a particular issue• Explores collective judgements and assumptions

What is deliberation?

• Deliberation is a social process involving many people.• It happens when participants are able to think broadly and

deeply about information and views being presented to them in a respectful environment.

• It allows for participants to potentially transform their personal values and preferences to allow for a collective decision making outcome.

HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN ONLINE?

Key Issues for Online Dialogue

• Dialogue Principles• Process Design• Software Selection Criteria• Framing, Exploring & Contextualising• Participant Recruitment• Process Management• Content Moderation; and• Dialogue Facilitation• Identifying Behavioural Modes

Framing

• Insuring the issues and the role of the participants is communicated in a positive light, will set a tone and an expectation of success.

• Many community engagement processes acknowledge this explicitly, for example, Asset or Strengths Based Community Development.

• The Frame can help to set reasonable boundaries, and the Frame can help to position the participant at the centre of the issue, rather than on its periphery.

Process Management

• Participants should be inducted into the process. • This should include; (1) clearly explaining the process; (2) explaining

the expectations of the participants in terms of their workload and participation; (3) explaining the process etiquette in terms of broad dialogue principles and specific moderation rules; and (4) explaining the separate roles of the moderators, facilitators, process managers, and technical support team.

• A simple an easy way to address this challenge could be to create a short video introduction for your engagement.

Facilitation

• Dialogue facilitation is perhaps the most crucial of considerations for online deliberative dialogue activities, yet most online processes fail to recognise the critical role of the facilitator.

• Greet and welcome participants• Thank and acknowledge contributors• Enquire, provoke, invite and encourage deeper participation• Reinforce expectations and behaviours• Correct misinformation and misunderstandings, direct people to information resources• Bring participants back on topic• Resolve conflict and mediate arguments

Behavioral Modes

• Monologue - when participants visit a forum once, leave their comment, and never return.

• Debate - participants read and react to each other’s posts. BUT, critically, they are competing to present the best argument. Their goal is to WIN the debate.

• Dialogue - when participants start to read and respond to each other’s comments. They ask questions, they seek to understand, they build on other ideas.

Working in pairs, choose a forum and mark up:

1. What behavioural modes can you identify in your forum discussion example? Is it a monologue, debate or a dialogue? Or is it a combination? (workbook page 15)

2. Can you identify any opportunities to intervene as a facilitator? What type of intervention might you make? (workbook pages 13 & 14)

3. Can you make any observations about how your forum discussions are framed and contextualised?

WORKSHOP ACTIVITY

THANKSFinal comments or thoughts…….