Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: using email and forums for discussion between meetings

[Matt Lawrence (matt]

On Sun, 9 Jul 2000, Meg Justus wrote:

> I was wondering what others' experience with this has been.  We are a
> relatively new group, spread rather thinly geographically, and would like to
> supplement our meetings with online discussions.  We have both a listserve,
> currently used mostly for passing around minutes and making announcements,
> and an almost brand-new Delphi forum.  Our comfort levels with the internet
> vary widely, however, and I wondered how other groups have
> used/overcome/worked this sort of thing out, so that everyone is involved as
> equally as they would be face-to-face.

To start off with, I want to point out that I'm VERY heavily involved in
the electronic world.

People won't be as equally involved as they would be face to face.  The
folks who can think very fast and are very eloquent will lose that
advantage.  People who need a few minutes to analyze a question or
statement will be able to participate much more fully.  Touch typing is a
critical skill, if you can't, then you will have trouble being heard.
Being able to spell and write gramatically has a much greater impact than
when speaking.  People who stutter (I do a little bit) will have a much
easier time communicating (although I occasionally stutter while typing,
go figure).

So, forget about it being the same.  There are advantages and
disadvantages to both types of communication.  

-- Matt