Book Discussion Group

[samgrant]

Originally Posted by samgrant

We will start at approx. 8 pm (central time) and go till 10 pm (more or less depending on interest) on Wednesday , March 1. A 'chat' room which will be called "Honored Dead".

I will also open a regular thread in the 'Book' topic area for those who can't contribute in chat, and/or for anyone interested to add commentary to the online discussion. Also it will be titled "Honored Dead".

OK?

Just to add to the above:

1) to participate, at the top of the CWT Home Page there is an item in the blue line which says 'Chat'. Click on that, enter your user name and login.
- You will see 6 (or more chat rooms listed on the right - there were only 3 a few days ago) "Honored Dead" should appear on that list.
- Honored Dead is the room for the discussion.
- to enter that chat room the default room, look onthe top left where it says "Room'" - ther's a drop down menu you need to use to get to the "Honored Dead" room.
-It opens when I create it and disappears when I leave the room, so if anyone wants to save any of the contents, there is a "SAVE" button near the bottom of the screen which one can use to save, then copy and paste to your scrapbook or whatever. Apparently it saves the entire chat from start to finish, not just the current contents on the window.

2) A few simple rules:

(I confess I have never been involved in a 'structured' chat room, but my experiences from the 'unstructured' sort has convinced me that some sort of rules should be established initially, and some maybe discarded if unnecessary.)

a) There will be a 'moderator', ostensibly to maintain order. Not that I would expect my fellow CWTers to be uncivil or disorderly, but mostly just to keep things on track.
- I will be the 'moderator', by default, as I apparently started this, and can't turn back!
- I have never been a 'moderator' before, so you will have to bear with me.
b) The 'moderator' will attempt to call the meeting to order, and start the discussion, no doubt with a profound introductory statement. The 'moderator will also do such things as referee (in all that that implies), call on participants to go ahead and 'speak', try to move the discussion along, if it is perceived to be dragging (subject to overrule by the chatters), etc.
Be advised that the 'moderator' may suggest questions and/or areas of discussion which the participants deem unworthy.
'Moderator' may also come and go intermittantly for refreshments and/or bathroom breaks.
c) Some specific protocol rules (any of which may be modified on the fly as warranted):

-anyone who wishes to contribute a comment must 'raise their hand' (Oh, I know this sounds silly and may bring back unhappy memories of grammar school (especially if you happened to be taught by nuns), but from what I have researched about these things, this is a common practice and helps to eliminate confusion, cross-talk, etc, and gives everyone a chance to get their 2 cents in.

So the way to 'raise one's hand will be for the participant to enter the word "me" without the quotes. participants will be recognized in order.

The 'moderator' will reply with a "go" without quotes (EG. "go socknitter")
and sock will proceed to illuminate us with her profound commentary.

- If the 'moderator wishes to interrupt for whatever reason, he/she/it will enter a bunch of Xs "xxxxxxx" or "xxx" and kindly explain the reason for interrupting the chat.

So, hopefully, those 3 simple attention type things are all we need to keep the discussion somewhat orderly:

"me" - to request to 'speak'
"go" - to give the go ahead for the participant
"xxxxxxx" - for the moderator to break in to change the subject or whatever.

3) Keep on subject. While it is OK to reference other books, sources, etc. relative to the discussion, even if it relates to other disputes of historical accounts controversies of other battlefields which can be applied to the book we are discussing, please try to avoid off topic issues such as 'Why historians give John Pope a bad rap".

4) If you wish to make off hand comments to other participants (like "this moderator is a complete dork"), please use the Personal Message function.
To do this, click on the participant name you wish to talk to and you will see a Private Message option. enter your stuff in the lower box.

Remember, this is just an experiment, an is likely to be fraught with problems, but I hope it will lead to better way of doing this.

I also hope it will encourage other CWTers to pick up the flag on this endeavor.

All for now, any comments, ideas appreciated. More tomorrow if I think of things I forgot to say.

[samgrant]

One more day!

Hope you all have finished or are close to finishing the book.

After much procrastination, I have only 47 pages left in my re-read (with some notes this time.)

Should be interesting to see the turn out.

Chat with you tomorrow!

[samgrant]

Please go to the Book and Movie Review area for more on this (Honored Dead*