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Laura Hilliger is a writer, educator and technologist. She’s a multimedia designer and developer, a technical liaison, a project manager, an open web advocate who is happiest in collaborative environments. She’s a co-founder of We Are Open Co-op, an Ambassador for Opensource.com, is working to help open up Greenpeace, and a Mozilla alum. Find her on Twitter and Mastodon as @epilepticrabbit
Authored Comments
The research shows that the values and ideas you instill in a child between the ages of 0 and 6 are the things responsible for how the interact as adults. When you instill a love of knowledge, the ability to visualize complicated issues and the idea that their voice matters, you're bound to raise someone who can and will explain the value of open. Thanks for sharing this story, made me smile :)
Most often I've had success with talking one on one with individuals who are quiet or seem like they're unable to participate in group settings. I've also used a back channel to initiate that conversation (as opposed to pulling the person aside).
There are many types of personalities that require a bit of moderation. I summarized the most common in a post I wrote just a couple weeks ago. I think these personality types come up in live settings as well as in virtual ones. The difference, I think, is that they are easier to assess in live settings.
We misinterpret written communication quite a bit, which can mean that we make assumptions about particular contributions or contributors that aren't necessarily true. Best bet is to always assume that people have the best intention – no matter what setting you're in.
It's important to provide multiple channels. A tip for encouraging productive friction in virtual projects is to moderate a variety of communication methods, then serve as a bridge between them. It's harder for moderators to pay attention to multiple channels, but it is a way to meet people where they are.
If you can say "So and so mentioned in the mailing list" on a forum or in a IRC channel, it might inspire some people to participate in the mailing list conversation. When you tell "So and so" that you mentioned their insight in a different setting, it let's them know that you found their contribution valuable enough to take outside a particular channel. Leaders can serve as a bridge between channels and inspire cross engagement.