Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
4.3
Zeno
Turning from tools for process models to tools for discussion, the objectives and
major concepts of Zeno can be motivated.
4.3.1
Software for Document-Centered Discourses on the Web
Zeno is an e-participation platform (www.e-partizipation.org) (Voss 2002) with a
spectrum of functions that comprises and extends
(a)
simple threaded discussions
(b)
document-centered discourses
(c)
information structuring during group decision making
Most electronic discussion forums, like the ones mentioned above but also
newsgroups, support simple threaded discussions (a). Some tools, e.g.
http://icommons.harvard.edu/
,
recognize URLs or even HTML tags in the
contributions or allow to attach documents.
D
3
E belongs to category (b). It can process any hierarchical HTML file into a
frames-based environment with automatic hyperlinking for navigating around
sections, checking citations and footnotes, and tight integration with a discussion
space for critiquing documents. Moderators may influence the look and feel of a
discussion space, they may edit, hide, or delete contributions. D3E is available as
open source (
http://d3e.sourceforge.net/
)
(Sumner & Buckingham Shum 1998). The
e-learning platforms Hyperwave eLearning SUITE supports annotations and
discussions of course units. Moreover, it offers a set of labels to characterize
contributions as notes, questions, responses, acceptance and rejection
(
www.hyperwave.com
)
.
Predefined labels for qualifying contributions are more familiar in tools for group
decision making (c), especially for brainstorming
(
www.facilitate.com
)
. Softbicycle's
QuestMap (
www.softbicycle.com
)
distinguishes questions, ideas, pros, cons,
decisions, notes, and references, a variant of the famous IBIS grammar (Kunz &
Rittel 1970) which was first implemented in gIBIS (Conklin & Begemann 1988).
Tools in this category usually allow to restructure the contributions, i.e. they support
maps rather than threads, deliberative argumentation rather than spontaneous reaction.
The first version of Zeno, which also supported a variant of IBIS (Gordon &
Karakapilidis 1999), was presented at CeBIT 1996 and continuously improved up to
version 1.9 in 1999. Since then a completely new system has been realized addresses
a broader spectrum of discourses in the knowledge society: Participatory problem
solving, consensus building (Voss, Röder & Wacker 2002), mediated conflict
resolution (Märker, O., Hagedorn, H., Trénel, M. & Gordon 2002), teaching, and
consulting. The new Zeno focuses on e-discourses and supports e-moderators in
turning discussions into discourses, elaborating the argumentation and carving out
rationales.
A discourse is a deliberative, reasoned communication; it is focused and intended
to culminate in decision making (Erickson 1999). Turoff et al. (1999) argued that
building a discourse grammar, which allows individuals to classify their contributions
into meaningful categories, is a collaborative effort and its dynamic evolution is an
integral part of the discussion process. A discourse grammar (or ontology) defines
