FIVE ESSENTIAL STEPS FOR PARTICIPATION IN A FOCUSED AND OPEN DIALOGUE BY A TEAM OF TEN STAKEHOLDERS:

Step 1: Select a group of stakeholders interested in an issue.

Step 2: Identify a member of the group that is willing to play the role of the Leader in terms of availability to interact directly with the Knowledge Management Team (KMT). which is responsible for managing the focused and open dialogue via the WebScope.

Step 3: The team leader frames, in collaboration with the KMT, a triggering question appropriate for the issue selected.

Step 4: Team members are engaged "asynchronously" in approximately four rounds of generative dialogue. They respond to the triggering question over a period of five days by means of e-mails. The KMT is responsible for time management and for organizing the knowledge generated by the stakeholders. The KMT does not interfere with the content of the issue.

Step 5: Team members are engaged "synchronously" for approximately three hours in a strategic dialogue responding to pair-wise questions displayed on each individual's computer screen by means of a web linkage, and a voice teleconference connection.

The KMT is responsible for facilitating the open and focused dialogue of the stakeholders during this strategic dialogue taking place from different places at the same time. We would also like to strongly recommend the following two initial conditions for the success of this focused and open dialogue project:

1) Participants to the WebScope applications should take the time to familiarize themselves with the rules of engagement in this focused and open dialogue by reading the first three and the last three chapters of the book Harnessing Collective Wisdom and Power to Construct the Future.

2) Participants should Visit http://sunsite.utk.edu/FINS/loversofdemocracy/ and familiarize themselves with the Description of the WebScope as posted in this site.

The Knowledge Management Team (KMT) assigned to the Declaration of Independence series of projects are Diane Conaway, Vigdor Schreibman, and Aleco Christakis.