typing their own notes...

[Doris Gottlieb]

The planners are envisioning having staff do the typing of session notes.
In other words, convenors would, as always, be responsible for seeing that
the notes are taken.  Convenors would then hand them off to staff to type up
after their sessions.

My instinct is to advise against this and invite these folks to take
responsibility for seeing that the notes are entered themselves.  My client
is skeptical that any sessions would actually make it into the computers
this way.

Hi, I’ve been pretty much a lurker until now and have enjoyed from the
background so many discussions. But I do have a few ideas and thoughts about
this that I’d like to share.

First of all, I think it is a good instinct to want to have the convenors
involved in the reporting process and to be actively working on the reports.
It is a second step in clarifying and working through ideas
and one that may
be missing from these people’s lives in general so it could be extremely
valuable to give them this opportunity within the OST.  However that said, I
think it may be a good idea to facilitate their use of these machines. For
that I have a couple of thoughts.

1.      is there a way to find out if the people coming feel intimidated by the
computer? I know that many people who don’t work with computers regularly
not only don’t like to do this, they are afraid (that something will go
wrong, that they can’t, that the computer will explode
). Of course it may
not always be said that way. But if part of the problem is also this “fear
of the unfamiliar” it would be useful to know so you can support them,
perhaps by having extra helpers at the computer bank, who people can turn
to, or ask for typing instructions. Or help with the work. If you could help
them by providing support, it may also help them in learning a new “skill”,
and realizing the value of being connected to taking down their own
materials.
2.      Another option is perhaps to have them write their reports themselves by
hand, and then letting a scribe type it over with them supervising the
process (so they are there to again get the material through their heads.  I
keep thinking when I read this that typing is something that people who are
not used to doing it find very difficult. If they really don’t type (also at
home – like my old boss) a keyboard becomes a very frightening thing, very
complex and overwhelming. Working with a scribe (read a good typist) could
facilitate the technical problems with typing while at the same time keeping
involvement high.

Pehraps a combination of the two would be a good idea (helpers for the
computer + a few people who really can type well and help those who just can
’t do it).

I think facilitating the process of getting a report on paper can be
valuable, but I too think that there should be involvement by a convenor at
each step (this in itself is already different for these people).  Another
thing pops into my mind as I think of this that I thought I’d mention too.
In a sense, these highly “successful” people have not taken notes for so
long that they may be at a beginner’s level with this.  By asking them to do
in some way you are putting them into a learning process where they may be
going way back (in their perception) to an earlier time in their
development. (Like when you are an adult learning a foreign language and you
feel like a child or it brings back difficult emotions about related to
earlier leraning experiences.) So I can imagine that for some of these
people this will be a very big and good challenge on many levels (including
on the level of  how they see their power).

I hope this helps a bit.

Sincerely,

Doris Gottlieb

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