> As much as I love MOOs, there are somethings they are not very effective at.
Yeow. Didn't think I was commented on MOOs as such, but since you bring it
up...;) Even MOOs have different situations. Cafes, one-on-one, private work,
socializing, and yes, even LONG EXTENDED discourses. See the papers and
documents usually linked on WOOs. Webbed MOOs are synchronous and a-synchrous
But let me get back to your point. Yes! I too prefer our chaos. But that
chaos is also our stories, stitched together so quickly we often reveal,
quite unintentionally, biases we don't always acknowledge, to ourselves or
others. This is one of the very facinating features of MOO. The dance of
words on the screen, the misunderstandings, the shuffle and reshuffle of
different voices, a veritable smorgasborg. One CANNOT interrupt/one
necessarily DOES interrupt. Wonderful paradox here. I can have my say onMOO
while you have yours. I can tell my story while you tell yours. They get
interwoven in very weird and wonderful ways. The crazy juxtapositions of
different utterances lead to different takes.
> However, if folks are going to tell stories, we would have needed a
> moderated MOO session. I've been to some, and, frankly, I prefer our usual
> chaos. Yet, if we were to do what you suggested (and I think that might have
> had most intriguing results), we would have needed a moderator.
Mediation upon moderation upon mediation is not what I am reaching for here,
I don't think. Not sure what I just said. Looking back at logs, looking at
the patterns of the verbal dance, following up on what was said, commenting,
re-grouping, MOOing the convo yet again, combining the a-syn with the syc,
that's what I think I am after, using ALL the resources available. I have yet
to exhaust the possibilities...invention, recursion, "artifacts" such as
MOOmail, MOOlogs, papers, notes, ...the ability to re-see, re-group,
re-define, what have you. It's all there. Depends utterly on how WE use it.
Telling stories can be done in so many ways. I have watched students tell
their stories on MOOlists, then get together for a little chat, then go back
to the MOOlists once more, further defining, further elaborating what they
posted before. I have also seen students writing remain flat and static.
Whatcha gonna do? MOOspace is just another environment we now call home.
Janet
off to ponder the pentadic possibilities of the term "moderator"
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There are now-a-days professors | DaMOO
of philosophy but not philosophers. | http://lrc.csun.edu:8888
Thoreau | or
| telnet lrc.csun.edu 7777
Janet Cross |
hceng028@csun.edu |
Learning Resource Center | www.csun.edu/~hceng028/MOO.html
Cal State University, Northridge |
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