A conversation about conversations

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Moderator: Jon Garfunkel, Civilities.net
Notetaker: Dawn Buie

DRAFT

NOTE FROM JON: Sorry I don't have direct quotes from any folks -- I'll check with Dawn. This is a summary of what I had put on the note paper

BLOG POST: A discussion of news genres -- by Jon Garfunkel

Contents

[edit] Initial Questions/Issues

  1. Social Dynamics
  2. "Crowd Sourcing"
  3. Spam Control
  4. How to build consensus so that ideas "bubble-up"
  5. How to enable participatory journalism
  6. Understanding the core goals of the community
  7. How to maintain the "artistic integrity" -- a reporter crafts an article, and it get sullied by piles of comments....

[edit] Dynamics

Emergent <------------------------------------> Directed
Community <----------------------------------> Editorial 

 - - - - - > 

   "Power Law" is the phenomenon where power is concentrated in the hands of few community members.

Free Speech <-----------------------------> Construction
Liberties <---------------------------------> Civilities

[edit] Things that MAKE Converations

Purpose-Based communities are often better behaved/efficient:

  1. Serve a niche, focused on solutions (Tech Support forums)
  2. Some communities have paid members

Communities that overlap with real-world communities can help:

  1. Existing identities from the real world are leveraged; people know each other.
  2. The occasional face-to-face contact of members helps build community

Other mechanisms may help ad hoc communities form:

  1. Aggregate blogs
  2. Social norms develop over time in communities
  3. Recognizing model commenters

Also, a community that seems chaotic may seem purposeful to individuals.


[edit] Things That BREAK Conversations

  1. Anti-Social participants: Spammers, Trolls, Single issues (see Flame Warriors), caricatures by Mike reed
  2. Godwin's Law - The chance that
  3. Poor structure of forums
  4. Anonymity, Impersonation

see Dynamics above: Users of a large newspaper site see it as a "freedom forum" and don't want censorship. However, this frustrates the ability of people to discuss constructively.


[edit] Solutions

  1. Trade off quantity for quality (adding registration hurdles reduces trolls)
  2. Reward good behavior: feature best posters (Like Slate's "Best of the Fray"
  3. Have the community do "tacit squelching" -- simply ignore people not following decorum
  4. Comment Management Responsibility
  5. PaperTrust model - This would allow registered subscribers to bypass moderation blockers (see dynamic between freedom and )
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