2012.09.09 13:00 -Collaboration-possibilities and pitfalls

The Guardian for this meeting was Aphrodite Macbain. The comments are by Aphrodite Macbain.

Graine Macbain: hello cousin :)
Aphrodite Macbain: graciously waves
Aphrodite Macbain: Hi
Aphrodite Macbain: Hi Wol
Wol Euler: hello aph, hello graine
Aphrodite Macbain: Graine, Wol, do you know each other?
Wol Euler: not yet
Graine Macbain: hi wol
Graine Macbain: pleased to meet you
Wol Euler: are you two related?
Graine Macbain: cousins
Wol Euler: ah :)
Graine Macbain: in SL
Aphrodite Macbain is having a hard time figuring out how to summarize either graine or wol
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler points to her profile.
Aphrodite Macbain: Grain runs a club
Aphrodite Macbain: Wol runs PaB
Aphrodite Macbain: grins
Wol Euler laughs.
Wol Euler: not quite
Aphrodite Macbain: along with the rest of us
Aphrodite Macbain: How is your new place Graine?
Wol Euler: oh you were here a few days ago
Wol Euler: I remember
Graine Macbain: so far, so good
Graine Macbain: still tweaking things
Aphrodite Macbain: a good turn out?
Graine Macbain: yes, quite good
Aphrodite Macbain: How is it different from the other?
Graine Macbain: it's on a new sim
Graine Macbain: otherwise, not much
Graine Macbain: picking up where I left off
Aphrodite Macbain: you have a very smiley face graine- you must be a good hostess!
Graine Macbain: I try
Graine Macbain: :)
Aphrodite Macbain: :D
Aphrodite Macbain: You have some great jazz musicians
Aphrodite Macbain: do you still have an art gallery?
Graine Macbain: yes, two, rebuilding those as well
Aphrodite Macbain: you must be busy
Graine Macbain: so what are we doing today?
Graine Macbain: too busy
Aphrodite Macbain: today. I don’t know. I have no plans
Graine Macbain: Aphrodite with no plans?
Aphrodite Macbain: I have been in meetings, like wol since 7 AM this morning
Wol Euler nods.
Graine Macbain: tired by now, huh?
--BELL--
Aphrodite Macbain: I am trying hard not to have plans.
Graine Macbain: do you have plans or do plans have you?
Graine Macbain: :)
Aphrodite Macbain: just waiting for the 90 seconds
Graine Macbain: I have a show at Avian Retreat at 2 pm
Graine Macbain: Ichie Kamachi
Aphrodite Macbain: oh?
Graine Macbain: if you want to come over
Aphrodite Macbain: what kind of show?
Graine Macbain: a music show
Graine Macbain: she sings
Aphrodite Macbain: I am going to try and get a way from the keyboard this p.m.
Graine Macbain: sometimes we need that
Aphrodite Macbain: my body certainly does
Graine Macbain: :)
Aphrodite Macbain: your events are often at 2 pm aren’t they?
Graine Macbain: they seem to fall around that time, yes
Aphrodite Macbain: I know what we can talk about-- PaB
Aphrodite Macbain: we had a big meeting about the future of PaB
Aphrodite Macbain: trying to engage more people
Aphrodite Macbain: Fewer people are attending
Aphrodite Macbain: Any ideas?
Graine Macbain: that may be the trend in Sl in general
Aphrodite Macbain: ah- like the economy!
Aphrodite Macbain: lol
Graine Macbain: how many did you have before?
Graine Macbain: yes, I am sure the economy plays a part
Aphrodite Macbain: no but I mean it's not just a local problem, it's an SL wide problem
Graine Macbain: yes
Graine Macbain: the summer months were slim at my place in most cases
Graine Macbain: more people should be coming inworld during the fall and winter
Graine Macbain: but it is still summer weather in most places
Aphrodite Macbain: true
Graine Macbain: where is Bruce, btw?
Graine Macbain: he hasn't been at Peace garden in the mornings either, when I have been there
Wol Euler: he is at the Quakers now, I believe
Wol Euler: he said earlier that he had a meeting to go to
Graine Macbain: ah yes
Graine Macbain: they have a nice meeting house, I've seen it
Aphrodite Macbain: I don’t know why - I do know that his brother died recently and he went to the funeral but that was well over a week ago

Graine Macbain: oh my!
Graine Macbain: I didn’t know
Graine Macbain: :(
Aphrodite Macbain: He's be here though - I think he is very busy in RL these days it's being harvest and all
Aphrodite Macbain: He has a huge cornfield
Graine Macbain: yes, i heard he is a farmer
Graine Macbain: :)
Aphrodite Macbain: He facilitates the 1 p.m. meeting on Saturday
Wol Euler: well, he is a gentleman farmer now. He rents out the land
Graine Macbain: oh my
Wol Euler smiles.
Aphrodite Macbain: His family owns the land
Aphrodite Macbain: we are in the middle of working on an art as being project as well
--BELL--

Collaboration

Aphrodite Macbain: we are looking at the concept of PAB as a scientific experiment – “the PaB Lab”
Aphrodite Macbain: and trying to find ways of expressing those concept s visually
Aphrodite Macbain: and doing it collaboratively as teams of 3 or 4
Wol Euler nods.
Aphrodite Macbain: Have you ever worked on a project collaboratively Graine?
Graine Macbain: in SL?
Aphrodite Macbain: mhmm in sl and rl
Graine Macbain: well, in RL of course, can't think of any SL collaborations
Graine Macbain: except a few benefit concerts at my old club, the Azure
Aphrodite Macbain: It's an interesting challenge
Wol Euler grins.
Wol Euler: it is an excellent chance to practice non-attachment and Metta :)
Aphrodite Macbain: No kidding
Graine Macbain: yes, I would expect so :)
Graine Macbain: not getting attached to an idea or position
Graine Macbain: or letting someone else's attachment get to you
Aphrodite Macbain: Hello Zen
Zen Arado: Hi Wol, Graine, Aph
Graine Macbain: Namaste
Graine Macbain: Zen
Aphrodite Macbain: I find if the group can agree and understand where it is heading
- the vision or mission - it can work more effectively together
Aphrodite Macbain: How have you managed, zen, to work collaboratively on your project?
Zen Arado: It seems okay
Wol Euler: hello zen
Zen Arado: We got it finished I think
Wol Euler: oh hooray
Zen Arado: There were only two of us though
Aphrodite Macbain: can you say anything about your process?
Wol Euler: small groups *can be more agile
Aphrodite Macbain: yes there are fewer things to consider!
Aphrodite Macbain: and fewer egos
Zen Arado: Actually we did two versions but we didn't like the first one
Graine Macbain: well, I have to be off to get ready for the concert
Wol Euler: bye Graine, take care
Aphrodite Macbain: thanks for dropping by cousin
Wol Euler: happy concerting
Zen Arado: byee Graine
Graine Macbain: Goodbye Zen, Wol and Aph!
Graine Macbain: take care
Graine Macbain takes a humble bow
Aphrodite Macbain: waves and grins
Aphrodite Macbain: namaste
Aphrodite Macbain: did you do the building Zen?
Zen Arado: I just downloaded the latest version of voice typing software
Zen Arado: I did a little
Aphrodite Macbain: It seems to be working well?
Zen Arado: lots of problems, I downloaded it from a French site
Wol Euler: hmmm
Aphrodite Macbain: so problems of translation?
Zen Arado: they told me I would get French and English
Zen Arado: but I haven't worked out how to get the French yet
Zen Arado: but it was half the price
Zen Arado: half the UK price
Aphrodite Macbain: lol half price with half the languages!
Zen Arado: but I wouldn't have got French at all with the UK version
Wol Euler: ha.
Aphrodite Macbain: of course! Lol
Wol Euler: capitalism at its most transparent
Zen Arado: may be I just need to make a profile for French
Aphrodite Macbain: yes
Zen Arado: it's still a bargain
Aphrodite Macbain: How does it work Zen?
Aphrodite Macbain: you speak,
Aphrodite Macbain: it records
Aphrodite Macbain: it translates into text
Zen Arado: it types what you speak
Aphrodite Macbain: and translates into French
Aphrodite Macbain: how does the French translation work?
Zen Arado: no it wouldn't translate
Zen Arado: this is for my French learning
--BELL--
Aphrodite Macbain: oh it works if you speak in French
Zen Arado: I would have to speak French
Aphrodite Macbain: nods
Aphrodite Macbain: you would have to speak French very clearly in order for it to transform it into text correctly
Wol Euler nods.
Zen Arado: that will be fun :-)
Aphrodite Macbain: :-)
Zen Arado: it doesn't recognise my English even
Aphrodite Macbain: lol
Wol Euler imagines French with an Irish accent ...
Zen Arado: what will it make of the French
Wol Euler smiles.
Zen Arado: but it's so difficult to type French without a French keyboard
Aphrodite Macbain: nods
Zen Arado: all those accents
Aphrodite Macbain: you mean all the accents?
Zen Arado: yes
Aphrodite Macbain: if you speak French to it, it should create texts with accents
Zen Arado: well yes that's the idea

Zen Arado: I have interrupted your thread
Aphrodite Macbain: no thread
Aphrodite Macbain: we were talking about our art works
Zen Arado: you were talking about group cooperation
Aphrodite Macbain: and the collaborative process
Aphrodite Macbain: and how challenging it can be
Zen Arado: I'm not sure about it myself
Aphrodite Macbain: It's easier to work alone
Zen Arado: you know the old saying about a camel and committees
Aphrodite Macbain: but when you collaborate you can benefit from everyone's skills
Zen Arado: we live in a more collaborative age
Aphrodite Macbain: trouble is with every person comes a new way of seeing,
Aphrodite Macbain: an new idea
Wol Euler: trouble? or benefit?
Aphrodite Macbain: both
Zen Arado: sometimes we have to give up our own preferences
Wol Euler nods.
Aphrodite Macbain: the challenge is the work of pulling ever idea out and then trying to jointly synthesize all of those ideas into an integrated whole
Zen Arado: but if you get someone a bit domineering that can be tricky
Wol Euler grins.
Aphrodite Macbain: like me!
Zen Arado: :-)
Wol Euler tactfully says nothing.
Aphrodite Macbain: silence was the stern reply :-)
Zen Arado: some people are very fond of their own ideas
Wol Euler: "organizationally gifted", let us say
Zen Arado: not me of course
Zen Arado: :-)
Aphrodite Macbain: funny thing is my work is all about collaboration and working with community
Wol Euler nods.
Aphrodite Macbain: and listening.
Zen Arado: you must collaborate my way
Wol Euler: how do you cope with divergence there?
Zen Arado: :-)
Wol Euler: because it must come up
Aphrodite Macbain: But I also need to be able to pull things together
Aphrodite Macbain: and catch all the marbles that roll under the bed
Zen Arado: yes there is a time for generating ideas and the time for synthesis
Aphrodite Macbain: It's hard to communicate effectively in SL
Wol Euler: it takes extra care and patience, yes
Aphrodite Macbain: maybe we need a talking stick in our planning meetings Wol. All the ideas kind of roll over and under each other
Aphrodite Macbain: Some people I notice tend to type and not read what is being said
Wol Euler raises an eyebrow.
Aphrodite Macbain: so all they are doing is speaking and not listening
Aphrodite Macbain: they have to look at the keyboard
Aphrodite Macbain raises the other eyebrow
Wol Euler: we do need to slow down, I'll grant you that
Zen Arado: it often happens in meetings especially of many people talking at once
Aphrodite Macbain: yes,
Zen Arado: I miss a lot even in my Guardian sessions
Aphrodite Macbain: maybe a talking stick
Zen Arado: I notice it's there because I edited it afterwards
Zen Arado: and then you see things you missed which were very good
Aphrodite Macbain: Yes I see a lot more after I re-read it
Zen Arado: things people said which were really good points
Wol Euler nods.
Zen Arado: not only that, often conversation comes in bursts
Aphrodite Macbain: realizing what a person was trying to say- squeezing words in edgeways
Aphrodite Macbain: and when there are 4 people all talking at once...
Zen Arado: I have heard people talking even when I held the talking stick :-)
Zen Arado: not mentioning any names :-)
Aphrodite Macbain: :-)
Aphrodite Macbain: I blame that on lag and enthusiasm
Zen Arado: when you get an idea and are keen to communicate it you sometimes forget
Aphrodite Macbain: nods
Zen Arado: happens to all of us
Zen Arado: but the talking stick does help
Aphrodite Macbain: yes- it's a reminder of who has the floor
Aphrodite Macbain: a visual clue
Zen Arado: I used to have a problem with fast typists drowning me out but that doesn't seem to happen so much in PAB
Zen Arado: a fast typist can dominate the conversation
Aphrodite Macbain: yes it's like a race
Zen Arado: a touch typist can type and read at the same time I suppose
Aphrodite Macbain: Time for Bertram's meditation...
--BELL--
Aphrodite Macbain: is Bertram leading a meditation now?
Wol Euler: oh bert
Wol Euler: yes, we must go
Aphrodite Macbain: yes- case in point
Wol Euler: see you there