Canberra Conference Centre Proposal

The Canberra Times reports to day in "City's waterside vision revealed" (by JUDITH IRELAND, 11 April 2011, 2011 12:07 PM), that it is proposed to build a $327 million conference centre and hotel complex. I was previously consulted on the design of a hi-tech dialogue centre as part of the development. My suggestion was to base the design on that of a educational "learning commons". I will be discussing how such a facility can be used at the Meta 2011 Conference, University House, the Australian National University, 26 May 2011.

I had some doubts about the location of the facility in the Parliamentary Triangle next to the National Library of Australia. However, the location appears to have been changed to the other side of the lake, to West Basin, Acton, which is more suited to such a development. But I am not sure my fellow members of the Walter Burley Griffin Society will agree. The third annual Marion Mahony Griffin Lecture by Rosemarie Willett is in Canberra, 12 April 2011.

I talked about the design of such a facility in "Designing for Dialogue: How do we design buildings and on-line systems for people to talk, learn and make decisions together?" at BarCamp Canberra 2011, ANU 19 March 2011. There is more detail on technocracy and designs in "Learning Commons Technology: The dos and donts in developing learning commons" at the 2nd Annual Learning Commons Development and Design Forum, Brisbane, 30 March 2011.

Learning and Dialogue Building

Former Canadian military college, Royal Roads University, is constructing a Learning and Innovation Centre building. One floor will be a "Centre for Dialogue", intended to carry out a similar function to that of the Wosk Centre at Simon Fraser University.

However unlike the Wosk centre, which is essentially a conterence centre with very specalsied discussion rooms for face to face interaction, the LIC building will be primarily a teaching centre for traditional lectures and computer meditated communication, with dialogue as a secondary role.

The building is designed by Jensen Chernoff Thompson Architects and their early plans for the building are avialable. Interestingly, the university has used its Moodle Learning System to provide details of the project and as a forum for consultation on the project. The general public can view the documents and "RRU Campus Progress Discussion".

This model of a combined learning and dialogue centre, using online education tools which I have suggested for a Dialogue and Learning Centre in Canberra. Instead of having rooms and systems which are purpose built for public discussion and which therefore will be unused most of the time, the design of a learning centre is adapted for occasional dialogue use. This allows the unviersity to have a useful teaching facility and to have a fully staffed facility with computer systems ready for use as a dialogue centre.

Broadening Public Discussion

Today I attended a meeting at the Moot Court at the Australian National University in Canberra from 12:30pm to 4pm. Fourteen people from academia, government and industry were discussing the creation of the "Australia Forum", a project for enabling public policy discussion. I attended for the School of Computer Science at ANU which researches the technology for such forums and also has hosted some. I wrote a blog post summarising my understanding of the background of the project.

The "Moot Court" is a room in the Law Faculty which simulates a court for training lawyers. This was selected as the best space for the meeting as it has furniture which can be arranged into a circle.

After acknowledging the original inhabitants of the land the chair asked us to sum up what our contribution could be in one sentence. I explained I was from ANU Computer Science and teach using online forums, help design physical spaces for this. Also I pointed out CS has hosted such events in room N101 for Senator Lundy and others.

As with a real dialogue, the difficult part is working out who everyone is and where their points of view come from. The task is to work out what we are attempting to achieve and what we have in common.

The Australian Forum is over ten years old (although I only heard of it for the first time last week). The ANU's Australian Centre for Dialogue also has been in existence for several years. There is obvious possible synergies between the two projects.

One of the difficulties is understating exactly what is proposed. It could be a convention centre or a web site, or something in between. Also it is not clear if the philosophy of "dialogue" requires any particular physical or virtual infrastructure.

Unfortunately much of the original promotional material developed for the Australia Forum is based on the idea of a symbolic building in Canberra. This makes the project look like the Canberra building industry asking for a government handout to build an expensive building which will hardly ever be used. The project has evolved to include a more flexible and virtual approach. But this is not yet reflected in the promotional material.

I spent an hour trying to work out what was wrong with a project which apparently worthwhile project and how to fix it. Senator Lundy then arrived and mentioned the NBN and Public Sphere. These were the missing piece of the puzzle. Not everyone agrees that the NBN is the best way to get broadband across the community, but most would agree if you have the broadband it can be of great use for community consultation. Senator Lundy's Public Sphere process provides a methodology for carrying out such processes.

Senator Lundy described the meeting "in the round" she attended recently in Geneva. This was the Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations Human Rights Council. These international forums have a very structured process. The Senator suggested using online tools to help make these processes more flexible. Also the Senator raised the idea of Australia hosting such international forums.

Senator Lundy suggested that any forums need a strong nexus with political issues of the day. This will then supplement the political process, not compete with it. Digital tools can provide a more granular approach to discussion. That discussion can take place from formulation of public policy through to its implementation.

Pia Waugh pointed out that we want human synthesis of the conversation, not just automation. I pointed out that we now use these techniques for teaching at university. There are approaches to this which are well tested and can be applied to broader public discussion.

The Australian Forum is planning to put out its next planning document in the next few months. In the interim, those who want to get a taste for what a well run Internet enhanced face-to-face meetings are like, can attend the free BarCamp Canberra 2011, being held at ANU, 19 March 2011. These are a little geeky, with participants referring to each other by their Twitter "handle" and almost everyone having a wireless handheld device switched on all the time. But they do show how the blend of computer technology and old fashioned meeting procedure can work.

Australia Forum

The "Australia Forum", is a proposal from the Canberra Business Council for a venue in Canberra for meetings, dialogue, cultural events and occasions of national importance. There is a Scoping Study available for the project. This complements the Austrlaian National University's "Australian Centre for Dialogue Project". There is a Vision and Mission Statement (PDF) and a brief explanatory movie. I was asked to provide some input on how computer mediated communication could be used to encourage discussion. This blog post has my initial thoughts on the project.

The Australian facility would be modelled on the Morris J Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. In 2007 an architectural competition was held for the design of a proposed $26M (later $30M) "Centre for Dialogue", to be a building built in Canberra. This would be located in parkland, sited similarly to the House of World Cultures Berlin and the Zappeion Athens. The completion was won by Alicia Bayl. However, it appears that since then the project has been modified to incorporate online dialogue, linking multiple physical locations. This is a useful development.

The forum could take advantage of the expertise, technologies and infrastructure in place for "blended" learning (combining online learning and face-to-face classes). This would allow educational information systems and buildings to be used for the forum. It would also also combine the functions of teaching about the use of such forums into conducting them.

A few initial thoughts:

1. PUBLIC SPHERE

Senator Kate Lundy has run a series of "Public Sphere" events which use live face to events, blended with online forums, for developing public policy.

The first Public Sphere event "High Bandwidth for Australia" was hosted by the ANU Department of Computer Science in the computer equipped room N101 in the Computer Science.

In the past I have used Moodle (the same e-learning software as now used at ANU) for part of the online consultation mechanism. Following on from this I suggest using a "learning commons" as the physical venue for the forum. Having a physical venue helps bring focus to the discussion, which if entirely online can seem a little too "virtual".

2. LEARNING COMMONS

From the Australia Forum project material it appears that the original idea was to have a purpose built building for the forum. That then changed to a virtual forum, due to the cost and complexity of a purpose built facility. I suggest a middle path: use a dual purpose facility, which could also function as a learning commons for an educational institution.

Most of the time the space would be used for teaching (including teaching about the forum) and only occasionally used for the "Australia Forum". The venue could be electronically linked to other such spaces, nationally and internationally, for a distributed discussion.

Using a learning commons as the basis for the forum building would also allow the latest technology and designs to be used. IT support and ideas on how to lay out physical spaces having made rapid advancement in the last few years. Part of this advancement was research sponsored by the Australian
Government on learning commons.

A "learning commons" is the trendy term for a building with a mix of open plan teaching areas and classrooms, equipped with extensive computer facilities. I will be speaking on "The dos and dont's in developing learning commons" at the 2nd Annual Learning Commons Development and Design Forum in Brisbane, 20 March 2011.

In 2008 ANU was considering a conference centre as part of the City West development. In response to a request for input, I suggested a triple purpose conference, training and decision support centre. The idea was that the centre would be used day to day for university teaching. Occasionally it would be reconfigured for commercial and academic conferences. In a national disaster, the centre would become a high-tech command and control facility for emergency operations.

As far as I am aware, it was decided not to proceed with the conference centre at City West. The University of Canberra opened a more modestly scaled Teaching and Learning Commons this month, on the mezzanine above their refurbished refectory. I attended the first event to use the facility.

3. AUSTRALIA FORM AS AN UN-CONFERENCE

The first use of the UoC teaching commons was for "Recent Changes Camp 2011: Canberra", an "un-conference".

An "un-conferecne" is similar to an academic symposium, but with more flexibility as to topic and discussion and with Internet support.

Several such events have been run at ANU. The ethos of these, along some of the support software and organisational techniques were applied to Senator Lundy's Public Sphere series. I suggest this could be explored further for the Australia Forum.

4. SOFTWARE FOR DIALOGUE

Modern educational techniques emphasise the use of discussion between the students. This is supported in Learning
Management Systems. In particular Martin Dougiamas built this into his Moodle software, now used by ANU. The ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science is now a leader in this field with its Engineering 'Hubs and Spokes' Project. I use Moodle with mentored and collaborative techniques for postgraduate courses at ANU.

As we prepare Australians for the dynamic opportunities and challenges ahead new forms of engagement will be needed. Australia’s best future will be shaped through dialogue – and through facilities and technologies that are enabling, democratic and globally connected.

Capital cities around the world are embracing the need in the 21st century need high quality secure venues catering for international dialogue, trade and significant national events. These are important elements of national infrastructure and the positioning of capitals. Centres of this nature are also the learning hubs of the future – pivotal places in terms of economic development and knowledge transfer from research institutions.

Our National Capital, Canberra, is the meeting place of the nation. It is also a rare centre of knowledge and research, with far reaching global relationships. Canberra is a capital with unparalleled assets and opportunities.

Now the need is clear – for a truly national meeting place in the Capital – one that will meet the future needs of Australia and Australians themselves, and realise the rich potential that exists.

That is the vision for the Australia Forum. ...

From: "Australia Forum", Canberra Business Council, 2010

ps: I viewed the explanatory video for the "Centre for Dialogue" with some amusement. The location proposed for the building is the same as one used in the Australian TV comedy "The Hollowmen". In series 2, episode 2, "Edifice Complex" a building is proposed at this location with no purpose other than to boost the ego of a Prime Minister. ;-)