I've heard of people chatting and blogging via WiFi at conferences during presentations, but it seems that Clay Shirky has conducted a novel experiment in using a chatroom during "a two-day brainstorming session for 30 or so people on the subject of social software." The meeting room was WiFi enabled and contained a large plasma screen displaying the chat during the face-to-face discussion.

Shirky suggests that the chatroom did facilitate better group interaction for their specific meeting, but points out that "every successful use of social software has environmental factors working in its favor," one key factor being that the participants were "self-motivated." While it might not be effective for some instructors who have difficulty turning conversations over to students, it might work well for seminar-style classes where the instructor facilitates student-directed dialogue.

BTW: Equally interesting is the version available through the Networks, Economics, and Culture (NEC) listserv archives which contains the note, "NEC writings now appear with a Creative Commons Attribution License." Can't wait to see some of these notices in our discipline :)

Link found via the Creative Commons weblog.