This in the on-line doorway to the Internet Time Conference Center. Groups of us have been meeting here to discuss informal learning. I've wanted something like this for a long time. The room is persistent; that is, it's open 24/7. I may set up office hours. If you see me on the webcam, let's chat.

I've conducted three on-line salons here in the past two weeks. They've been quite productive. Half a dozen people talk share information around a topic. Topic-drift is allowed, so perhaps I should call the subject a catalyst rather than a topic. Today we talked about social networking. Earlier sessions covered information glut and emotional intelligence.

The conference room is equipped with chat, streaming video, shared white board, screen sharing, presentation screen, Voice-over-IP, and the ability to record a session with the press of a button.



This is the Johari window, a framework for looking at what you and others know about who you are. One of the objectives of my on-line conference center is to expand my "Arena," the name given Quadrant 1. I expect to crowd out some blind spots (Quadrant 2), blow away part of my facade (Quadrant 3), and make some connections to illuminate more of the hidden area (Quadrant 4).

The salons are admittedly a social experiment. I'm having fun and learning how others look at things. I'll undoubtedly conduct more, perhaps several salons a week.

The Conference Center is plain-vanilla Macromedia Breeze. We're running version 4.1 now but will upgrade to Breeze 5 next week.

Some visitors are jumping the gun. This week's salons are:

Wednesday, August 31 | 1:00 pm Pacific | Coaches & mentors
Wednesday, August 31 | 4:00 pm Pacific | Off-site & Outward Bound

Friday, September 2 | 9:00 am Pacific | How do YOU learn?
Friday, Septmeber 2 | 1:00 pm Pacfiic | Implementation Horror Stories

I haven't set up office hours yet.