April 29 - May 2, 2003   Register Now!     Program   Collaborative Communities 2003 begins on April 29 with four keynote presentations. Each day, new conference rooms open where additional keynote speakers deliver presentations and engage in online dialogue with attendees. The conference ends on May 2 with concluding comments by the speakers and participants that describe the implications for the future of online collaboration and community.   The conference opens with a real-time online web conference presentation that provides an overview of the week followed by keynote presenter, David Coleman. Since the remaining keynote presentations are recorded and can be viewed anytime, the conference program is very flexible. Login at anytime that fits your schedule and access speaker presentations, post questions or comments, and network with others. Because the interaction and dialog occurs over four-days, you can participate at any time that fits your schedule, day or night.             "The concepts and approaches I was exposed to at the online conference were highly relevant and immediately useful on the job. Great going!"   Ronald Kantor, Learning Architecture Group, Accenture   "The online conference allowed me to participate on my own schedule, save travel time and costs, and come away with new knowledge, practical resources and new relationships. I'd definitely attend again."   Laura Hofstetter, Director of Web Education, Barry University   Schedule of Events          Tuesday, April 29  The Collaboration and Community Landscape     Conference site opens at 5:00am (Pacific Time) Real-time web conference (8:00-9:00am Pacific time)     Welcome & Conference Overview – Soren Kaplan     The Evolution of Collaboration and Online Community – David Coleman Real-time chat: 5:00-5:30pm US Pacific Time (Cynthia Typaldos, Founder SPM eGroup) Four recorded keynote presentations add at 5:00am Pacific Time (view presentations and dialogue with presenters anytime throughout the rest of the week):       The Evolution of Collaboration and Online Community David Coleman, Managing Director, Collaborative Strategies LLC Collaborative technologies have been evolving over the last 20 years to help support person-to-person interactions and a variety of organizational structures. This provocative presentation will provide background information to support the Collaborative Communities (virtual) conference and will focus on definitions of collaboration (various types), how collaboration technologies, processes and methodologies have evolved, best practices for online communities and a case study (The Congo Dam Project) that looks at many of the issues that can arise in a long-term project-oriented on-line community.             Knowledge Networks and Communities: Building Capability for Self-Organization Verna Allee, Senior Associate of KonvergeandKnow and President of Verna Allee Associates The organizations we lead are undergoing a fundamental transformation in the knowledge economy. This provocative yet practical briefing weaves together emerging practices at the strategic, tactical, operational and societal levels that are supporting a dynamic new world of knowledge-based enterprise and networked organizations. Drawing from the insights in her latest book, The Future of Knowledge, Verna will demonstrate how employing living system principles and supporting communities of practice allows the natural network pattern of organizations to emerge.             The Human Side of Virtual Communities Richard McDermott President, McDermott Consulting In the last half-dozen years many companies have formed global, virtual communities to share ideas and insights between locations and business units. But these communities involve more than virtual connections. They are primarily a set of human relationships. Based on a study of best practices in communities of practice, this talk describes the human side of communities, the different kinds of communities we see in global organizations and the factors that make those communities successful.             The New Workplace Jonathan Spira, CEO and Chief Analyst, Basex The smartest companies around the globe are redeploying resources more effectively, lowering overall costs, and changing the face of the work environment. Virtual meetings replace flying scores of people in. From instant messaging to Massively Parallel Conferences, The New Workplace redefines collaboration. This presentation outlines the key trends that are shaping the new way of doing business in the twenty-first century.             The 12 Principles of Civilization applied to Social Networking Software Cynthia Typaldos, Founder and President of the Software Product Marketing (SPM) eGroup Founder and former CEO of RealCommunities Co-Founder and former COO of GolfWeb The 12 Principles of Civilization" is a framework for designing successful online group interactions. It was derived by the presenter from a careful review of the work of sociologists, in particular that of James McIver. "The 12 Principles" are essential to the success of any human community, civilization, organization, etc., online or offline. One of the Principles is Communication, and the changes the internet has brought to communication are profound. The internet is the first communications tool that allows effective many-to-many interactions. Until the internet, all existing communication tools (writing/reading, telephone, TV, meeting in person, smoke signals) were one-to-many (broadcast, speeches, books), one-to-one (telephone, conversation), or a few-to-a-few (telephone conferencing, small group meetings). Reed's Law of Group Forming Networks shows that groups grow at a rate of 2(n) -- a much faster rate than Metcalf's law of n(2). So the value of telephone networks with 10 nodes (people with telephones) connected is 10(2) or 100, but the value of internet communities with 10 nodes (people using groupware) is 2(10) = 1,024. That is, there are 100 possible different telephone connections between the people with telephones, but 1,024 possible different group formations between people using internet groupware. This tremendous new opportunity in group communications makes the internet ideal for "social networking", that is, as a tool for bringing groups of people together in ways that were not possible before. But the 12 Principles still apply -- Purpose, Identity, Reputation etc. all must be present in social networking software -- people are not network nodes and cannot be treated as such.                      Wednesday, April 30;  Best Practices in Collaboration and Online Community-Building     Real-time chat: 4:00-4:30pm US Pacific Time (Jon Lebkowsky, Polycot) Seven keynote presentations added at 5:00am Pacific time (view presentations and dialogue with presenters anytime throughout the rest of the week):       Building collaboration through project communities at NIH Sara Byars, Communications Manager, National Institutes of Health Through clinical research, laboratory discoveries are translated into new and better treatments and therapies that improve the nation's health. Clinical research within the NIH intramural community is headquartered at the NIH Clinical Center and a new clinical research center is now under construction. The NIH Clinical Research Information System-CRIS-is a $60 million project that supports the crucial mandate to provide the best possible care for patient volunteers while advancing the quest for new medical knowledge. Work has begun on the largest component of CRIS, the core that replaces and expands the 25-year-old Medical Information System. It's a critical component to complete before the new hospital opens in 2004. Tight deadlines, multiple project teams and the need to involve numerous stakeholders across NIH are the challenges. This presentation provides an overview of the strategy and approach used to build an online project community focused on keeping the project management teams on track and in touch.             Virtual Affinity – Online communities in the nonprofit sector Jeanne Allert, Principal, Ellipsis Partners Associations and nonprofits have a unique advantage in building and maintaining online communities. Their inherent affinity and cohesion of members is a characteristic most online communities have to work especially hard to create, but even with that keen advantage, these organizations face hurdles. This session profiles a handful of nonprofit communities, their unique value and challenges.             Creating Learning Communities for Collaboration & Knowledge Sharing Soren Kaplan, Co-Founder, iCohere The concept of community has many definitions and is used in many ways. Soren Kaplan’s presentation provides practical distinctions between project communities, learning communities, communities of practice, and affinity-based communities and outlines the different technologies and processes applicable to each. A case study of the learning community that was created during the Collaborative Learning 2002 online conference illustrates strategies and approaches for creating and launching collaborative online environments.             Community, Happenings, Social Software Jon Lebkowsky, President, Polycot Consulting, L.L.C. Jon Lebkowsky's presentation focuses on techniques and best practices for building and sustaining online community. A successful online community or social network doesn't just happen because people have come together online. Real community begins to form when members, persist, find affinity, share experiences, and build a common history over time. For this to happen there must be sensitive leadership and governance, as well as thoughtful stimulation. Goals should be well-defined and considered in structuring social organization: some communities are casual hangouts; others, like communities of practice or project networks, are goal-oriented and require more structure to meet specific objectives within established time frames.             Internet-based Facilitation for Leadership and Management Development James Wolff, Senior Fellow, MSH, Electronic Products Group Managing health service organizations in today’s rapidly changing environment requires strong and effective leadership and management skills from a key number of senior staff. Until recently, however, providing training to these managers has been difficult because of the travel and facility costs required to reach a critical mass of managers within an organization. Internet technologies have provided a new means of reaching large numbers of managers within an organization and working with them over time to strengthen their management team by building both individual and team leadership and management skills. At Management Sciences for Health, a non-profit international public health management consulting company, we have developed a program that blends individual internet based training with internet-based facilitation of management teams in the workplace. This presentation will describe our Virtual Leadership Development Program and how we build organizational capacity through virtual training, coaching and support of senior management teams.             No Easy Road – Collaboration & Learning in South Africa Tony Carr & Glenda Cox, Multimedia Research Group, University of Cape Town This presentation draws on several Southern Africa based case studies to tell some messy stories about the use of face to face and online interaction in face to face and distance courses in tertiary education and in developing community of practice in a distributed organisation. The main cases will include courses across several faculties at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the University of Cape Town, an online MBA offered by the University of Free State and training of curriculum managers in the Western Cape Education Department. Based on experiences building collaborative learning communities in South Africa, this presentation illustrates a number of common issues related to access constraints, institutional change and diversity.             Online Collaboration & Communication Increases Business Partner Revenue Mark Esfehani, Technical Director, SBC California Vendor Operations Learn how SBC California uses online collaboration and communication to enhance business relationships and increase revenue contributions in the business market. The telephone company’s Alternate Channels organization has grown its distribution channel scope and size while maintaining fairly consistent resource allocations through the use of online tools and technologies. The presentation will highlight aspects of the department’s systems before implementation of an integrated platform and compare those with the current suite of tools being utilized to grow revenues through business partners.                      Thursday, May 1  Selecting and Using Collaborative Tools and Technologies     Real-time chat: 8:00-8:30am US Pacific Time (David Woolley, Thinkofit) Final three keynote presentations added at 5:00am Pacific time (view presentations and dialogue with presenters anytime throughout the rest of the week):       The Right Tool for the Job David Woolley, President, Thinkofit So you've come to understand the potential benefits of doing collaborative work online. Now what? The number of products and services in this field is mind boggling, and as you peruse their overlapping feature lists your eyes soon glaze over. How do you even begin to categorize these diverse offerings, let alone choose what's right for you? This presentation will give you a starting point: an overview of what's out there, and some ways winnow the list of choices down to a manageable size by identifying what you need and what you don't need.             Where's the Beef? - Using Rich Media to drive content-focused collaboration Phil Smith, CEO, Replay Rich Media Many people involved in computer-based and on-line training are familiar with Multimedia and its applications in digital learning environments. Many people are also aware of Rich Media, and its various attributes. But the question persists: how is the emerging Rich Media revolution advancing online collaboration and e-learning in general? The presentation describes the trends in rich-media based communication and explores how Rich Media may be used in both synchronous and asynchronous online environments to support content-focused group collaboration and learning.             Video Solutions for Collaboration and Community Christine Perey, President, PEREY Research and Consulting From birth to death, humans are surrounded by non-verbal communications. Yet, most virtual communities operating today rely on and are productive primarily through text-based interaction. Including video to establish rapport and “read between the lines” is no longer as costly and challenging as it used to be, but you will want to be informed about your options before adding video to your community’s media wardrobe. In this session, Christine Perey introduces the spectrum of hardware and software, end point to network solutions that make the collaborative environment as close as possible to—maybe even better than—being there. Desktop videoconferencing and video recording tools are ideal for ad hoc and informal applications. Shared videoconferencing systems based in conference rooms serve the needs of groups of different sizes and fully immersive video “environments” are also growing in popularity. With this overview of video technology options, you will be able to select the appropriate solution for your community or group.                      Friday, May 2  Implications for the Future of Online Collaboration and Community     Real-time chat: 8:00-8:30am US Pacific Time (Soren Kaplan, iCohere) Presenters and attendees join together in the "Virtual Café" and share concluding comments about the future of collaboration and community. This asynchronous discussion session supports the sharing of comments and ideas anytime throughout the final day of the conference Conference officially ends at 5:00pm (Pacific Time) Conference site remains accessible to attendees through June 30, 2003           Still not sure if you should register? Consider the benefits:   One-tenth the cost of traditional conferences Flexible event schedule - attend anytime during the week Downloadable presentations & practical resources Connect directly with experts Network with other attendees Group discounts     Register Now!

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