Guides for Presenters--C&WOnline 2006

E-Forum (Asynchronous) Presentation Guide

***Special Note:
We have decided to adjust how the E-Forum will be conducted inside the computersandwriting.org drupal site. This guide is now updated for the new use

The asynchronous portion of this conference will be held using Drupal as our communication tool. In the past, C&WOnline has used a listserv for this portion of the conference, but last year a Drupal site, KairosNews, was used, and we will be modeling our use of Drupal after what Charlie Lowe set up for last year's conference.

Let me demonstrate how these asynchronous presentations will work, and then I will follow with a few suggestions and guiding principles for your presentation.

Conference Home "Node" (page) within the Drupal site
There will be a page within C&W.org that will serve as the home page or table of contents for presentations. Below is a screen shot of last years page (http://kairosnews.org/node/4312):

Individual presentation pages
When conference-goers click on the link to your presentation, it will open a page with the text of your presentation on top and then the space for commenting and comments below (shown in two screen shots because you have to scroll to get to the commenting area): http://kairosnews.org/node/4329

As you can see, your presentation page can have graphics and links.

About Comments
Comments display directly below the presentation text and in "flat list expanded" mode by default. However, the comments also display in a threaded view. We are going to encourage folks set their view to threaded so that they see each comment as something like a "Topic" in a regular discussion forum. That way the discussion doesn't appear to have only a single thread. Drupal is also set up so that replies to comments will be sent to the author of the comment via email.

Some suggestions about setting up your presentation (take with grain of salt)
One thing you will notice as you look over last year's presentations is that there appear to be a lot of reads, but there aren't many comments. I am somewhat suspicious that the drupal interface is in part to blame for this dearth of dialogue. I believe an online presentation like this walks a fine line between content and conversation. If you overwhelm a participants with content (as some of last year's presentations did), they won't be able to read it all and won't feel able to join the conversation. I would like to advocate that you take a layered approach to your presentation that allows for a quick entrance into the conversation from the presentation page but also encourages a deeper investigation of your ideas by following links from your presentation page:

Layer 1: What goes in the Individual presentation page
--A brief jist of your ideas with some compelling discussion starters
--Link(s) to more information or a full paper on your subject

Layer 2: More detailed presentation of your ideas
--This presentation material is accessed by clicking a link from your individual presentation page
--These pages are explored at the participant's discretion
--These pages are links to files/resources you have created or to other sites.

Because comments appear as part of the individual presentation page (the topic is on the same page as the discussion forum), it is wise to keep the topic brief and to make it engaging. You can't count on everyone following the links or reading a long paper before they get to the comments. Realize that everytime someone comes to see what has been posted on your presentation, they have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to see these comments.

I think that the Danny Dunn presentation http://kairosnews.org/node/4329 is a pretty good model, but I'd say it would be nice to have it even briefer.

Special Note to Shared Presentations
You all face a special challenge to put your presentation page together. I suggest that you have a brief collaborative statement about the common concern and features of your presentations. Then create a link to a your individual presentations (formatted again in layers--opening interface which has links to deeper content). You might follow with a number of compelling concerns or questions:

Diagram of the Shared/Collaborative Presentation Page

Lastly, I want to stress that you can do whatever you wish with your presentation and how you would like to put it together. These suggestions are only suggestions, but I hope they have proven helpful.

What should you get ready and by when
You should get your presentation page ready by 2/1. At the present moment (1/14), we do not have the Drupal site set up, so for now please prep your material on your own, and we will post it when the CW.org site is ready to go.

Good luck with your presentation.

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