Presentation at the KM4Dev Knowledge Cafe: Online interaction in international development: Capitalizing from an online dialogue, 24 September 2020

1. Online interaction in international
development: Capitalizing from an
online dialogue
KM4Dev / Dgroups Foundation
Knowledge Café
Thursday 24 September 2020

2. Agenda
1. Welcome
2. Introduction: the earlier cafés, the online e-conference
3. What did we talk about? What ideas did we share?
4. What did we do? How was the dialogue organised?
5. Conclusions: can we do what we say? Key lessons and
recommendations

3. Tech orientation
Zoom – we will not take notes, but will use the chat
Please, mic off when not speaking
www.menti.com – we will post codes for the introductions
Using your video is optional, but be aware that others may have
less bandwidth than you
The entire session - audio, video and chat – is recorded; and any
private chats are also visible to the organizers.

4. Introduction
The KM4Dev café
The 20 years celebrations workshop
The online dialogue on the dgroups.io platform:
https://dgroups.io/g/dg-dialogue-online
Why we did it

5. Icebreaker

6. Icebreaker

7. What did we talk about?
110 members
22 topics (threads)
+ wiki, calendar, polls
5 main themes
ideas, key conclusions

8. What we learned – 5 main areas
Enhancing #participation and #engagement -
Nurturing effective #COPs
Using appropriate #platforms
#Learning through e-collaboration
#Sustaining engagement through time

9. (a) Enhancing participation and
engagement
• clear structure and questions
• use different modes to be as inclusive as possible:
live/asynchronous
• make things low stakes and conversational
• listening is also participating: “empowered listeners”
• specific contributions as catalysts for more
discussions

10. (b) Nurturing effective COPs
• critical mass necessary
• privacy issues / the fear of being judged
• relevant content
• feedback: regularly ask members what to discuss
• regularly repeat the common goals
• show or demonstrate impact and value

11. (c) Using appropriate platforms
• fun, easy and popular
• start simple – even without videos!
• include users with mobile devices
• allow for low bandwidth and weak connections
• bridge to social media platforms
• take care of privacy issues

12. (d) Learning through e-collaboration
• build trust
• connect different groups, look for shared interests
• consider indicators to identify the value we are
creating
• “just to soak into what’s around us and not get
bothered about acting upon it…”

13. (e) Sustaining engagement
• organize thematic discussions
• moderators provide content, share perspectives
• use iterative processes, combine with, eg, a F2F
event
• address unexpected issues
• stopping does not mean failing

14. Group discussions
• No notes / talk only / empowered listening allowed
• Share a chat reflection into plenary afterwards
Question:
• Which of these points reflect YOUR experiences?
• Which would you add as an important lesson?

15. Welcome back!
In the chat…
When I give the signal:
• Which one practice or lesson do you recommend to
enhance online interaction?

16. Online collaboration, dialogue and
interaction – what did we do?
• A ‘three-week’ conversation
Week 1: What are the critical aspects that we need to consider?
Week 2: What works? What experiences have we encountered?
Week 3: What lessons and practices should we take forward?

17. How did we do it?
• Derived starting topics from earlier cafes
• Started on July 2
• 110 participants
• 22 topics / threads
• introductions
• Use of hashtags to categorise discussions
• A wiki, with summaries
• 3 weeks + a little bit more
• This live session as part of it

18. Group discussions
• (1) How well have we fostered participation and
engagement?
• (2) How well have we reinforced a sense of community?
• (3) How well have the platforms worked for us?
• (4) How well have we learned what we wanted to learn?
• (5) How well have we created the conditions for continuing
interactions?

19. Group discussions
• No notes / talk only / empowered listening allowed
• Share a chat reflection into plenary afterwards
Questions:
• What have you experienced / heard about during
these interactions?
• How should we capitalize on these insights?

20. Welcome back!
In the chat…
When I give the signal:
• Which success did you observe or experience or
hear about from these interactions? Mention what
you heard someone else say (and his/her name)

21. Welcome back!
In the chat…
When I give the signal:
• How should we capitalize on these insights and
learning?

22. Conclusions
Are we able to practice what we preach?
What next?