Summary:
- An E-Debate or a Time Bounded Online Discussion is a community-wide scheduled member engagement activity on a timely and topical subject of broad interest to members for a set period of time.
- Use an E-Debate to encourage a broad, guided debate of a controversial issue for community members as well as to bring a more local or regional context to the table.
What is an E-Debate?
An E-Debate or a Time Bounded Online Discussion is a community-wide scheduled member engagement activity on a timely and topical subject of broad interest to members for a set period of time. For example, you might select 2 to 4 individuals to facilitate two sides of a controversial topic over a 2-week period. You can also assign opposing topics or approaches to be researched, presented, debated, or defended.
Why organize an E-Debate?
The E-Debate format encourages learning, sharing, dialogue, and interaction on a complex issue. An E-Debate could be tied to pros and cons on policy approaches, or could allow and facilitate the introduction of evidence from country case studies. In an international organization, e-debates being online and asynchronous, facilitate wide participation across multiple time zones.
Situations where you might want to hold an E-Discussion or an E-Debate include where you want to:
- Encourage guided debate of a controversial issue for community members
- Get more members engaged, perhaps allow them to vote positions up or down; ask for their help in validating pro or con positions
- Bring more local and regional context to the table
How do you run an E-Debate?
Consider the following aspects of running an E-Debate:
Logistics/Preparation
- The Core Team decides on a topic, brainstorms the structure of the e-debate and determines roles - who will support this community activity in what way.
- The Community Manager announces to the community the upcoming e-debate (anticipatory note)
Run through
- To kick off the debate, two to four facilitators introduce the issue, flesh out the two-sides and introduce documented background or perhaps two case studies, one pro, one con
- Members are encouraged to contribute and the facilitators post as necessary, typically with questions, to spark additional thoughts and comments
- At the end of the debate, facilitators summarize key insights, pros and cons, and share additional resources. (Recommended: a short survey to the members to get their feedback on the e-debate.)
Variations: the E-Debate could be "time bounded" (1-2 weeks), in real-time, or asynchronous, run as an online discussion on the Community Platform. Furthermore, the discussion could be left wide open, instead of focusing on two opposing sides or arguments.
Follow up
After the E-Debate, as with all community activities, make sure that you follow up, within 24 hours if possible, with notes and information about upcoming events. As a Core Team, reflect and use the insights for the next community activity.