Design of Online Groups
An online group is virtual.
It exists in the imagination of the participants.
When people act on their belief that an online group exists, and
post to it, this strengthens the participants' belief in the
existence of the online group.
An online groups is more coherent when the participants have a
single shared view of what the online group is.
To develop successful online groups, it is therefore important to
clearly communicate what kind of a place the online group is, both
to the participants and to non-participants.
The settings in the software, all actions taken by the owner,
participation coach and the administrator, must be consistent
with this.
Once the group has been launched,the design should never be changed.
The Design defines the purpose of the online group, and its main
boundaries:
- Membership
- Who can be in the group and what their roles are.
- Participation Protocol
- What is ok in the online group.
The Design must be based on an understanding of the nature and
requirements of the (real life) group that the Online Group is
for.
If this understanding is not present, an assessment must be
carried out.
If the OnlineGroups.Net Consultant and Online Group Owner,
together have that understanding, then the documentation of it
that will be implicit in this Design will be sufficient
documentation.
It is important that the Design Elements are assessed carefully
against the criteria provided for each element as this will ensure
that the design is well-linked to the shared understanding of
the nature and requirements of the group.
Name
The name is the most important design element of an Online
Group.
It embodies the essence of the group and, if it works, will
become a shared shorthand for all the participants know and
value about the group.
The name should be easy to say and to refer to in email.
It should be suitable for use in a url and an email address
(probably all in lower case).
The name can have "full" and "short" versions.
The criteria for a name are:
- Potency
-
The name should be interesting and engaging so that it
communicates a lot of meaning.
Double meanings and humour can be useful in generating names
that are catchy but not overdone.
- Brevity
- ☺
- Accuracy
-
The name should encapsulate or evoke the people, the place,
the purpose, the participation, and the passion.
- Fit
-
The name must not clash with any other group.
Hyphens and Underscores
The Internet convention seems to be that underscores are a
replacement for spaces and hyphens are a separator (perhaps
between set and member in set-member).
For online group names, either makes sense.
Owner
Is it important that the participants know who convened
the establishment of the Online Group. See
Roles in Online Groups
for more information.
Real Life Group
The Real Life Group is the group of people that the Online Group
is for.
The group might or might not exist already.
It is important to distinguish the Real Life Group from the
Online Group as they are separate entities.
The Real Life Group meets in the Online Group, and may also meet
face to face or via other media.
The Real Life Group should be named in such a way that it can be used to
complete the statement "[OnlineGroupName] is an Online Group
for…"
Purpose Statement
The purpose statement defines the reason for the existence of
the Online Group.
The purpose of the Online Group is different to the purpose of
the Real Life group.
purpose of the Online Group is usually to, in some way, enable
the Real Life Group to achieve its purpose.
The Purpose Statement must define how the Online Group will
enable the Real Life Group to achieve its purpose.
It must do so in a straightforward way that is compelling and
attractive to the group members.
Membership Criterion
The Membership Definition is the most defined boundary that an
Online Group has.
It determines who can be in the group.
The membership must be defined in such a way that
it can be implemented in an even-handed way in the future.
It is important that group participants know, not just who is
in the group at present, but who might join the group in future.
It is also important that participants know
that they may no longer meet the membership criterion in future,
for example if the membership is restricted to current
office-holders in a committee.
Membership is conditional on compliance with the Participation
Protocol.
Visibility
The boundaries of Online Groups are highly variable.
Groups can be very public, very private and have a number of
levels of privacy in between those.
It is important that the level of privacy is appropriate to the
requirements for the group and that it is communicated very
clearly to the participants.
Location
All Online Groups are located in a site.
Project Owners with multiple Online Groups often have a site of
their own.
Where a new site is to be established, a Site Design is required.
Where the Online Group is to be located in a site that already
exists, or for which a Site Design has been completed, all that
is required is to name that site.
Participation Protocol
The Participation Protocol defines the secondary boundary for
the Online Group.
It defines "what is OK" in the Online Group.
The Membership Definition (the primary boundary) is conditional
on compliance with the Participation Protocol.
Encouraged Participation
The Encouraged Participation items provide a chance to name
the particular kinds of participation that are expected to
achieve the purpose for the Participants and the Owner.