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1996 Sense-Making Workshop

COPYRIGHT AND CITATION INFORMATION:
© Dervin, Brenda, 1996. This set of guidelines was distributed to participants at the ICA'96 workshop in the weeks preceding the meeting and at the beginning of the meeting. Cite as: Dervin, Brenda (1996). Proceduring peace -- guidelines in progress: Procedures for Sense-Making Methodology workshop May 23, 1996. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Chicago, Illinois.

GIVEN THAT WE CAN ASSUME THAT...
*we reflect many differences between us (experience, focus, field, purpose)
*we have a common interest in the interpretive and/or sense-making
*our purpose is to do some genuine talking with each other, not lecturing at each other
*we get the most out of the session if we focus on strugglings -- the journey, not the destination
*most humans think best if appreciated (and most stop thinking if attacked)
*we have not read the same authors and are not failures because of this
*talking time is a precious resource and should be shared fairly
*listening time is a precious resource and should be shared fairly
*shy ones often have profound offerings and procedures should encourage their easy entry.

GIVEN THAT ACADEMIA HAS TAUGHT US SOME BAD HABITS...
*the "search and destroy" mode of participating
*listening only for things we disagree with, or consider wrong
*praising only that which is like us
*giving more talking time to those who speak loudest, longest, most aggressively
*reminding others of how unsuited/ badly prepared they are for the work they have chosen
*the idea that coherency exists out "there"
*the idea that what person 2 says must follow from what person 1 says
*the idea that the leader must control not only process, but content

WE CAN ESTABLISH ON A TRIAL BASIS THESE RULES FOR LISTENING
*listen for things to praise (practice a new strategy for listening)
*rephrase "criticisms" into suggestions
- I found this useful, you might...
-You may find some help in...where they struggled with the same issue...
- I once walked that road and where I ended up was...
*when commenting on a presenter's project try to do so on his/her terms
*choose from all the things you might say the 2-3 you think most useful to speaker group
*practice handling a workshop structure that does not emphasize imposed coherency
*think of the time-space context as during and after (at lunch, in hallways, over email, etc..)
*use the "participant packet" to jot down thoughts to be shared later on the web site

AND THESE RULES FOR SPEAKING
*talk in a relaxed and conversational mode -- this workshop is not designed to judge you
*avoid lecturing, or "delivering" a paper, or re-presenting your precis
*start where your precis stopped
*focus on your achievements and your struggles
*raise issues in the most general way possible so as to cut across discourse communities
*pose questions to the group -- where I would most like your input, most like discussion

AND THESE SELF-DISCIPLINES
*the coordinator will only coordinate no matter how much she feels moved to set folks straight on the "true" meanings of sense-making
*presenters will only present and not respond to respondent comments no how misinterpreted they may feel
*everyone uses the "participant packet" to communicate all these unsaid wisdom