Estudiante Universitario

The EMEC Methodology
(Efficient Management of Multilingual Electronic Conferences)
Knowledge Management in a Latin American Virtual Community

Daniel Pimienta, Catherine Dhaussy
November 2001


Abstract
Since the mid-1990's, shifts of the Internet towards business and entertainment have called for innovative approaches in the management of virtual communities. Fashionable web conferencesoften fail in communication aspects; the information they provide, although nicely organized, cannot replace computer mediated communication. Chat tools, on the other hand, suffer from the opposite flaw: synchronous communication is generally poor at good information management. This paper claims for an alternative approach focusing more on methodology than software to generate communication andto disseminate information. The methodology aims at decreasing the level of the barriers (information overload, time, language…), hence increasing the incentive for proactivity. The experiment allowed to facilitate the management and to improve the productivity, through a database system automating routines. EMEC, the proposed methodology, allows a better thematical focus, and it respects people'sschedules, languages, and cultures. Designed in 1997, it was tested in 1999 as a research-action product, in the framework of a Latin American virtual community dealing with social impact of the Internet. This study presents the first results of the experiment, and opens perspectives for future applications. The next version of the methodology will focus on customization, in order to increaseusers’ satisfaction, and will open a new field of research targeting "facilitation of distance participation".



1 Introduction
The mass marketing of the Internet has increased the number of people using e-mail services, a trend which has logically led to a growth of mailing lists, both in variety and size. The majority of the new users have not followed the acculturation process which was thenorm until the mid-90's. This has generated an increase of inappropriate messages (especially in content, and length) in e-conferences. Moreover, the greater number of lists with similar objectives makes users more exposed to cross-postings. Additionally, the shifts of the Internet towards commercial media have increased the phenomenon of spamming; furthermore, virus spread by e-mail is nowgeneralized and does affect e-conferences. Finally, the internationalization of the Internet drives to a more diverse audience in discussion lists; it has thus become a priority issue to accommodate non-English speakers and cross-cultural exchanges.

The combination of those factors has produced a less and less acceptable amount of wasted time for professional subscribers. The dramatic reduction ofthe density of useful information leads to a drop of the attention devoted to the main messages, which get diluted in the incoming flow; hence a threat to the efficiency of e-conferences. Experts leave thematic conferences, which have been invaded by a large poorly qualified audience; this phenomenon contributes to a qualitative decrease as far as information is concerned. In a few words, the globalsignal/noise ratio of e-conferences has gotten down to dangerous thresholds. Despite these issues, e-conferences should remain the main basic principle of Internet-based collaborative work; some method is then required to adapt them to the new environment.

The fast growing use of online conferences (web-based forums) has not solved the problems linked to adequate participation. Those systemsoften offer an impressive interface, they may allow a good information management structure but they lack the communication incentive which makes the soul of virtual communities.

Professional moderation of closed discussion lists is obviously part of the solution, but this is not enough. In order to face the set of identified problems, FUNREDES, an NGO dealing with the dissemination of the...