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Grp-Facl will transition to the new
Facilitator Forum
May 15, 2008
On Wed, 2 Jan 2008, Sandor Schuman wrote:
Over the next few months, Grp-Facl will transition to a new
system hosted by the International Association of Facilitators
(IAF). The new system will eventually host all of the IAF
discussion groups and provide an integrated interface that will
allow users to manage their subscriptions. The new Facilitator
Forum will continue to be open to IAF members and non-members
alike and will be supported by volunteer moderators. Our
historical archives will be maintained. We anticipate shifting
to the new system in April, 2008. If you are interested in
helping to finalize the requirements for the new system, being
part of a test pilot, or serving as a volunteer moderator please
contact Tammy Adams.
If you are interested in some background information, please read
on.
Coincidentally, Grp-Facl came into operation 12 years ago today,
January 2, 1996. IAF adopted Grp-Facl as its official discussion
group and has been its financial sponsor since 1997. More
information on the history of grp-facl is available at
http://www.albany.edu/cpr/gf/resources/history.htm.
There are primarily two reasons for making this transition.
1. In addition to Grp-Facl, a number of other electronic forums
are in use to support group facilitation discussions in Spanish
and French, regional discussions, and IAF's organizational work
groups. One of the objectives of this transition is to make it
easier for users to select from the available discussions and
manage all of their IAF-related subscriptions via a single user
interface. In addition, it will make IAF's other resources more
readily apparent and available to newcomers.
2. Over the years we have had periodic discussions about which
technology would best support our group. In fact, it was just
this type of discussion -- about dissatisfaction with the
original group, misc.business.facilitators -- that led to the
creation of grp-facl. Recent discussions of this nature led to
the creation of our "mirrors" on Yahoo Groups and Google Groups,
and new groups on Facebook, Ning, and Frappr. Many suggestions
have been offered, such as incorporating features for social
networking, editing and maintaining discussion threads, and
subscribing or unsubscribing from a particular topic or thread.
Another objective of this transition is to make available some of
these options and tools.
Over the past few months I have been working with Tammy Adams,
Coordinator for IAF's Communications & Publications, and Gary
Rush, IAF's Chair Elect, to explore alternatives for the future
of this electronic discussion. We developed a list of
requirements, which you can view at
http://www.albany.edu/cpr/gf/IAF-Forum-Requirements-v3.pdf. Tammy
took the lead in developing a proposal to and obtaining approval
from the IAF Board of Directors and soliciting and reviewing
vendor bids. She deserves a great deal of credit for undertaking
this initiative and seeing it through.
It occurred to me only recently that we should have invited
Grp-Facl members to participate in this process early on -
developing the proposal to IAF, writing the requirements,
soliciting bids, reviewing proposals - and gained from your
knowledge and perspectives, but it occurred to me too late. Given
the amount of work it has taken, we are reluctant to renew the
process. My apologies for not involving you earlier and more so
for not operating in the collaborative fashion that we should
exemplify.
Making this transition - from a user technology standpoint -
should be quite easy. The vendor, Professional Misfits, has
demonstrated a willingness to replicate our current
functionality, add to it, and keep it simple. When the time
comes, I will be working with them to transfer your subscriber
information. If you don't want your subscription transferred, you
can let me know at that time.
Making this transition - from an emotional standpoint - might be
different. Personally, this will mark a substantial change in my
role, which began in 1994, and has involved nearly daily activity
since. The technology and moderation will be different, and might
lead to some frustration and some improvement, but the meaning of
it all will continue and so will our relationships. I think this
is a good choice.
Meaning is all we want. Choices are all we make. Relationships
are all we have.
- Sandy
Sandor Schuman, Moderator
Group Facilitation: Process Expertise for Group Effectiveness
http://www.albany.edu/cpr/gf
Group Facilitation: Process Expertise for Group Effectiveness
is a moderated discussion on the practice and theory of group facilitation.
View our facilitation resources and searchable archive at
http://www.albany.edu/cpr/gf/
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Group Facilitation is a moderated discussion on the
practice and theory of group facilitation. Participants share ideas,
questions, and advice on group problem solving and decision making, group
development, running meetings, and related topics. Group Facilitation was started in 1995 and was adopted in 1997 as the official electronic
discussion group of the International Association of Facilitators. We average four-to-five posts per day and between 800 and 900 subscribers in about 35 countries.
Most participants are
practicing group facilitators who work in diverse fields such as: meeting
facilitation; conflict resolution; large group interventions; organization
development; Total Quality Management; electronic meeting systems; strategic
planning; team building; project management; and community planning.
Information about group
facilitation listservs in other languages and on related topics can be found
on the IAF website.
Please consult the ground
rules before submitting messages and the FAQs and
for additional information.
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