How could Knowledge Café or Philosophical café inspire a new format for #PKMChat Twitter Chat
Uncertainty
Wednesday, when I picked this as our next topic I was hesitant.
Sunday, when I started working on it, my mind was mostly busy at searching another topic yet I was drawn back to it.
Monday I did a bit of research. Coffee table brings nothing on Google. It was mostly a remembrance of my time in Berkeley in 2007. We used to meet on Tuesday morning in large café on Shattuck AFAIR. Each of us was bringing his findings of the week and the debate started. That’s where I heard about Twitter for the first time. There that I met Dave Winer for the first time.
Then I realized coffee table was not the right term for searching. However, something was there: A topic not defined fully from the beginning, just a general direction. Not an open mike either. The coffee table is a low table, ankle height. You can’t lean on it, you can’t write on it and it’s almost as if the other participants are right in front of you. The table is not hiding half of them. So it can’t be confused with a meeting setting with a meeting table or a presentation setting with one in front of all the others. It forces a kind of informal ambiance.
What I really wanted for this chat is an open discussion on new format #PKMChat we could try next year. Sofar We have:
– fast-paced 9 questions
– scaffolded discussions
– guests
– agora mode
In many case topics are prepared in advance and a prereading paper should be written. I realized quickly that most participants don’t take the time to go trough the framing post. If the topic requires some prior knowledge it’going to be a stopper for most participants. So topics must tap into common knowledge. At least half of participants but be able to contribute ideas, other could then asks questions and build on top of the conversation with their experience.
So the idea of an open form of discussion without prior work, without prereading took form back in January and that’s what I imagined as ‘coffee table form’.
Tuesday. Fuelled by more conviction I did a research again. This time, I had David Gurteen’s work in mind.
A few links and ideas I picked
Randomized Coffee Trials
This is on Random Cofee Trials, one more form with 1 on 1 discussions with people selected at random. Kind of Roulete Cat (purposefully typoed).
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/randomised-coffee-trials
The idea comes from Nesta, re-imagined independently by David
http://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/institutionalising-serendipity-productive-coffee-breaks#sthash.2x2JnO0G.dpuf
Searching further I found this conversation, and here a surprise a comment from Helen, our Helen from @ActivateLearn. Maybe I was on something
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/randomised-coffee-trials-post
With a link from her
Back to Nesta’s idea
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/rcts-post
How to run RCTs
Knowledge Café
Original idea from David on Knowledge café
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/kcafe
The page is loaded with actionable ideas and plenty more links. Worth a quiet read with a cup of coffee.
“turn a traditional chalk and talk, death by PowerPoint presentation or meeting into an engaging learning event”
15 minutes presentation (ie prereading issue solved as it becomes part of the experience). It could be a very short blab or slides shared a tweeet at a time.
3 rounds of discussions in small groups. This sounds like side convos so familiar to #PKMChat). This could be imagined as 3 questions in the same form as Agora Mode.
A closing conversation altogether with some ideas brought back to the group.
Wikipedia page on Knowledge Café
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_caf%C3%A9
Half way between a CoP and a Word Café
Which kind of close the loop with my original idea of Coffe table discussion.
So with 24 more than hours to prepare the topic, I think there are enough directions and enough material to discuss. I will continue my homework.
PKMChat being about Personal Knowledge Management encompass Knowledge lifecycle in general. Our first chat was about learning, acquiring Knowledge. Our second is about sharing it. Week after weeks we will switch from one end of the lifecycle to another while exploring all the channels that could be used: social, formal, writing, videos. Feel free to suggest topics by tweeting to @pkmchat.