Apr 26, 2021

Digital Shamanism - Meta Experiment Write-Up

by: Kristen Pavle

Distinctly different phases of the Digital Shamanism experiment (numbered with sub-bullets of reflections)

1. Pick an article, in this instance, two of the members (D+K) had been exposed to something we thought the group would enjoy reading and reflecting on - this article was proposed, with the "game" or experiment format, group agreed

   • Probably a lot of ways to propose articles for group consideration
   • This was fairly easy, we had a good choose out the gate and made it easy for the group to say yes; kind of lucky on the topic because it fit squarely in various areas that we've discussed as a group already

2. Each individual member reads the article and writes their reflections - on their own, with the intent to later come back to the larger group with this experience.

   • Felt a bit self-conscious about how much I was writing and because this was the 3rd time I'd read the piece (prior two times were for personal reasons before the group experiment was hatched) - got over this because this is my style of reading and researching! It is what it is :)
   • Definitely excited to see how this would work, and what others had written.

3. Group re-convenes and shares what they've written, in synopsis format - round-robin style. Used blackbox approach to share - everyone shares at time of group convening, not before. All members share a brief overview of reflections and writing before we engage in larger discussion. We recorded this sharing time.

   • Blackbox approach is A+, CJ mentioned at one point that it's nice because it helps avoid [[group think]]; interestingly, it avoids group think in the initial writing and reflecting phase, but then it aids in group think when we re-convene as a group. Hmmm, this is curious indeed.
   • I liked the round-robin approach, it created a real feeling of pent-up energy - I couldn't wait to talk about everything! At one point I think I even jumped the gun with my own sharing, not allowing time to let folks read first. Jon was good with politely reminding me of the process we agreed upon.
   • Interesting that everyone shared in a slightly different format, a slightly different published location (or in my case, just an .md file)

4. Larger discussion - #dialogos style: giving people room to share their thinking and reflections in a free-flowing way, building off of what other people said and shared. Let the conversation go wherever it is going to go. No real time boxing. We recorded this conversation.

   • I haven't gone back to listen to our conversation. But I think it would be fruitful. Curious about when I'll go back to conversations like this? Should this be built into the experiment flow somehow?

Generally - I think that this experiment was super successful, and looking forward to more experiments to get enough data for insights to emerge. I'm hesitant to draw any conclusions aside from a resounding desire to continue doing this!