We actually ended up discussing ahead of time many of the issues Margaret brought up in class, and I think we were more prepared for class and wiki editing because of it. It was really helpful to be in close proximity to my classmates, even if we spent much of our time staring at our own computer screens... I think that we were able to quickly engage each other with many little questions and comments that wouldn't be worth the effort to communicate online. I intend to help continue weekly-ish meetings with our local crew, but a question presents itself: What do all those more isolated from the rest of our cadremates do to get the same quality of experience?

One simple, already implemented solution is to Skype them in when we meet up. This works, it's true, but it doesn't seem to go far enough to really bring the wealth afforded by our proximity to their situations.

What if we incorporated more video at these meet-ups? I could use my laptop's built-in camera for the purpose, and could bring a few other webcams back into service to add other video streams. Could I do that simultaneously? I'll have to look into it.

Another thing might be similar to my suggestion last night surrounding our hesitation surrounding the wiki... We could agree to a set of behaviors that would encourage more openness throughout the week. For example, I try to be on Skype and available anytime I'm sitting and working on class-related things. I haven't spontaneously Skyped with too many people, but maybe if we all agreed to certain availability messages to indicate "I'm here, let's chat!"...?

I'll try to pose some questions like this to the forums, but if someone reading this has any suggestions, the comment button or an e-mail would be great.

C. Dillon: Are we there yet?

Christopher D. : You already know when we'll get there... classes start next week.

C. Dillon: I know, but I'm worried that I won't be ready when we get there. I want to know what I have to do before next week.

Christopher D. : Do you really need more to do? Why don't you play with that website you're supposed to have uploaded?

C. Dillon: I just uploaded that website, or at least some of it. I dunno what else to add to it.

Christopher D. : Well, then you can read a book. I know you haven't caught up with your reading.

C. Dillon: I'm trying to get caught up on "Here Comes Everybody", and those Action Research books are still in the mail.

Christopher D. : Well, keep reading the book you have, and don't worry so much... I'm sure as long as you're putting in effort, you'll be fine once things are more clear.

C. Dillon: How do you know I'll be fine? I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing to get ready for next week, and what little I do know about tells me I'm behind. I've used up so much of my time this last week just getting everything connected... I have my personal calendar working now, and the contact list is coming along nicely, but Google Calendar won't talk to Sakai, I only have 15 working Skype contacts, syllabi on the course websites don't have important information, I don't know what sort of leadership role to assign myself in the group, and everyone else seems so much better prepared that I just know that come Monday I will be the only one who doesn't know about the assignment that's due on Tuesday, or something like that.

Christopher D. : *sighs* We both know you're pretty capable yourself, and that there are others having similar problems. If you haven't found a schedule that tells you something is due soon, then there probably isn't one. Take care of what you know you need to do now, and deal with the rest as it comes. You can keep checking for new information, but things on Sakai are obviously still being created and fine tuned, so there's no reason to panic when something doesn't work as intended. Most of all, remember that Margaret and Paul were very flexible about due dates and scheduling at Virt Camp... there's no reason to believe that they will be unreasonable about any issues that are still around when we get to next week.

C. Dillon: I guess, but I had this dream about Virt Camp the other night...

Christopher D. : Doesn't matter. Dreams don't have any inherent meaning outside of that which we assign to them after the fact. If you start reading too much into dreams and anxieties and falling apart on me, we'll never make it to next week in one piece. Take a few deep breaths, get as much work done as you can without tearing yourself apart, and see where things stand when we get to Monday.

Also, stop writing all that nonsense in your blog... nobody wants to be subjected to your silly literary devices. You're not that great of a writer, it's gimmicky, and adds little to the group's efforts. Instead, you should be pointing out or fixing all those problems you've found so that the entire Cadre can be more prepared when classes start. Or go write that forum post about the boundaries of cognitive systems, get a discussion going. Do something productive, rather than sitting there worrying through writing.

C. Dillon: Y'know, those are good ideas, but you're not really helping me feel better about this. I don't think I want to talk with me about it any more. Are we there yet?

I suppose much of the credit goes to the top-down planning that we're all pretty certain happened in the months before this Camp. Those running this great ongoing experiment knew enough to take the right risk with this particular collection of oddballs and characters such that we would intuitively see the opportunity for transformative energy and seize it without concern or regret. They knew, by something they read or something we said, that we each were sparks in search of a wildfire, and calculated just the right kindling to start the chain reaction.

To illustrate that I'm not just blowing smoke, I'll point out a happy coincidence that our benevolent overlords were delighted to cause. I didn't introduce the word "fractal" to the common tongue here, but I'm delighted that someone lit upon the word within my hearing. The fact that each of our learning circles seems to exhibit the same degree of skill/knowledge symmetry found in our cohorts which just happens to be reflected in the greater Cadre is about as accidental as a Jackson Pollock. Bringing up Distributed Cognition on the first day of our first class and thereby implicitly tickling our brains with the question of the boundaries of cognition was, as they say, just icing.

I don't mean to direct too much of the credit away from us as individuals and as a group. Our program co-directors deserve their due. They created the precisely tuned chaos, but we put our hands to the wheel and shaped an order that works better for us than even they seem to have expected. I still wouldn't be surprised if things fall apart a bit before the end of Camp... I would be utterly shocked if we didn't pull it all back together with the unflappable cohesion that we've all seen manifest with every obstacle we pass.

After today, it feels like there needs to be some tense the represents a superposition of plural and singular to assign to the word "community" when referring to our budding Cadre 12. We exist as a singular community, defined by a set of individuals that belong to our cadre and, currently, by a shared location in space. I'm coming to realize, though, that this community will be different depending on the modality through which we interact with it. There'll be the community we interact with asynchronously, the one we interact with in synchrony, and the one we'll remember interacting with here at VirtCamp. My concern is that the community will feel like multiple communities rather than the same one through different colored lenses.

One of my favorite internet philosophers suggests the following explanation for many problem cases within online communities:

I'm of the opinion that this is part of the reason online communities feel so distant from our real world communities. Fortunately, we avoid all three ingredients that would result in similar issues in our community:

Virt Camp seems to suggest so far that we're going to be creating a microcosm with our learning here in order to eventually reflect that structure on the world. We're changing ourselves over the next year in order to learn how to affect that same change in the world when we leave. We're learning ways and gaining the means to apply the tools around us in our learning so that we can turn around and teach others to do the same. I suppose this is supported by the fact that some OMET alumni tend to come back and teach the program.

I'll admit to questioning my value and purpose here, mostly due to the prevalence of teachers within this group. As a behavioral therapist in a K-2 primary autism class, I do my own share of teaching, but it seems a bit removed from the experiences that so many others have been sharing. I think I want to teach after this program, and conversations with teachers here today have reinforced that idea to a degree, but I know I'll have a lot more to think about by the end of Virt Camp alone. At least for now, I can try to bring my unique work and background to enrich the experiences of others.