PhD - The Use of Storytelling in Online Relationship Development

The doctoral research project explores the use of storytelling and story in the development of relationships in online groups.

Thesis
The development of relationships between group members is recognised as an important factor in enhancing the effectiveness of online groups. However, little has been written on how to facilitate and develop these online relationships. There is little established practice for the facilitation of online relationship development. Certainly this area has not been described, theorised or guidelines developed to support online facilitators.

Facilitators have found that facilitating online groups is far more challenging than face-to-face groups. Due to a lack of physical communication cues it is harder to build a team online, harder to follow meeting processes, tougher to sort out multiple communication channels and harder to converge.

The use of narrative in the facilitation of online groups potentially offers a useful catalyst in developing online relationships. It provides an accessible form for developing inclusiveness, deepening rapport and for people to present aspects of themselves in an environment lacking in information richness.

The study involves facilitators and others working in the emerging field of online groupwork coming together to research their online practice and experience in a co-operative research group. This research group offers a specific expertise in group dynamics, process development and interaction design.

The method of co-operative inquiry is used within a participative approach to investigate the narratives that occur within the online group and those the group work with in their facilitation practice. Co-operative inquiry is chosen as it produces data that has a strong grounding in participant experience and multiple perspectives of phenomena. Co-operative inquiry also aligns strongly with facilitator values of equality, shared decision-making, equal opportunity, power sharing and personal responsibility.

The thesis question is: How is narrative beneficial in building relationships in a facilitated online group?

The research makes an original contribution to the knowledge of online facilitation by investigating the potential effectiveness of narrative in online relationship development. It investigates the potential of narrative to address some of the difficulties faced by facilitators of online groups. Practical outputs for the field of facilitation are the formation and investigation of processes and techniques that can be applied in online relationship building and maintenance.

Click here for more on the research project.

Click here to go to the PhD research website - www.onlinestory.net.

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Storytelling in Online Groups

Chapter in the Handbook of Research on Computer Mediated Communication

I submitted a chapter proposal based on my initial PhD findings into the use of storytelling in building online group relationships for the The Handbook of Research on Computer Mediated Communication. The Handbook is scheduled for publication by Idea Group Reference in 2008. This proposal was accepted on 3 November by editors Sigrid Kelsey, (Louisiana State University) and Kirk St. Amant (Texas Tech University).

As a work in progress a draft chapter is available here.

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Facilitator Values and Ethics

Chapter in the IAF Handbook of Group Facilitation

Dr Dale Hunter and I submitted a chapter proposal to be included in the prestigeous International Association of Facilitators Handbook of Group Facilitation. Editor Sandy Schuman accepted our submission and we went to work writing the chapter. The Values and Ethics chapter focuses on the key elements of the dialogue and debate that members of the association engaged with in the development of the IAF Statement of Values and Code of Ethics. The IAF were keen to involve as much of its membership in as many locations around the world as possible. Rather than using a sub-committee or task-force to develop the Code, an email-based online conversation was created. Called the Ethics and Values Think Tank, the group involved over 80 members and over a 2-year period developed the Statement of Values and Code of Ethics for Group Facilitators (IAF 2004).

Different perspectives were shared from many cultures and facilitation backgrounds. By including as many as possible in the process, wider applicability and greater acceptance of the code was generated. The handbook was published by Jossey Bass in 2005 and includes chapters by 33 leading authors in the field of facilitation, including Roger Schwarz, Sam Kaner, John Epps, Jon Jenkins, and Christine Hogan.

A Mapping the Field of Facilitation paper I presented with Dale Hunter at the Australasian Facilitators Network Conference in Perth in November 2005 is currently being worked on for submission to Group Facilitation: A Research and Applications Journal for publication in late 2007.

Usability Research

Ministry of Social Development - 211 Community Helpline Usability Project

In late 2006 I had the delight and privilege to work with former colleague Keong Wong from the Ministry of Social Development on several days of usability testing of 3 different prototype systems for the department's 211 Helpline. Helpline staff use a knowledgebase of about 60,000 records for all the organisations that support people, families and people at risk. The knowledgebase includes organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous, Community law, family violence, disability support – and similar. The knowledgebase is mostly used by the people at lifeline, youthline and the 211 community helpline.

Screen shot of the revised knowledgebase

Helpline staff were sometimes finding it difficult to retrieve the organisations they needed for their clients amongst the 60,000 records available. Over 10 days we sat down with 16 different people using the system. Looked at what they do and presented them with a few prototypes to look at. Our concluding report recommended 10 changes to the favoured system and within 6 months 9 of them had been implemented. One of the project highlights was when Bryan Wilshire the CEO of Lifeline New Zealand came in to see us as he had heard about us from several of his caller staff. He thanked us for our work with the team and said that he would like to acknowledge the commendable attitude of all the people from the Ministry saying that he appreciated our work and that the usability project was a real example of community and state co-operation.

IS Research for the AUT Usability Research Group

Interactive learning systems
Project managed the Tutorial for Business Modeling (TBM) research project, being developed as a worldwide commercial product. TBM is a computer-based, self-paced tutorial, for a range of business modeling skills and techniques that are used to create computer systems. Worked closely with project champions Dr. Philip Carter, Dr. Gwyn Claxton, other academics, funding bodies, 3rd party developers and students on the system. Key aspects involved coordinating the information design and learning content for the first 6 sub-modules of the system, creating storyboards for the new system and usability testing. Also undertook an analysis of screen capture software, developing the integrating terminology, developing the learning structure for the system and completing the final development.

Screens from the TBM prototype

Usability Testing
Worked in team environment as a research assistant managing the AUT ethics committee approval and compliance process for the startup of the AUT User Experience Lab. Developed and pilot tested systems and procedures for usability testing. Coordinated and trained other staff in user testing procedures. Conducted usability testing of NZ tourism websites and presented research findings on behalf of the Tourism Research Institute and User Experience Lab at the New Zealand Tourism and Hospitality Research Conference in December 2000.

Usability testing NZ tourism websites

Conducted User testing on two versions of AUT’s Business Online (BOL) interactive learning system.

WebSol/BOL

SoDIS Project Auditor 3.1
Conducted an expert and cognitive walkthrough of the feasibility analysis and the requirements analysis sections of the SoDIS application. A usability report was produced and presented to the SoDIS project team. The SoDIS Project Auditor is a decision support tool for software development projects. SoDIS is created by Professor Don Gotterbarn at East Tennessee State University and Professor Simon Rogerson at DeMontfort University in the UK. The tool addresses project management risks and provides a framework for stakeholder impact analysis based on the work breakdown structure (WBS) of the project under review.

Usability for Zenago

Conducted a rapid usability testing project for online publishing company Zenargo. Zenago is a business that works with clients to maximise the potential of the internet as an effective part of its marketing mix. They create modern, efficient and functional web content management solutions that help clients drive their business. We conducted a 3 hour usability test of the front and back end of the web-based system. We presented our findings to the team and projected the testing footage for the design team to see. Brent found that many of our recommendations were things that the team had suspected but hadn't had the empirical data to support them. 9 of the 12 usability recommendations were addressed within 2 weeks and had gone live to Zenago's clients.

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