How to find firmer common ground

2025-05-05

This was just a first draft following up my earlier piece of 2025-03-17 called “Imagining new stories”, where I have drafted a general methodology for ontological commoning. Thanks to much interest from various (most appreciated!) people, I have been moved to offer a clear and concise structure for trying out ontological commoning; Please look there for the latest formulation!

OLDER VERSION FOLLOWS

• 4 is absolute minimum, barely adequate
• 6 practical minimum
• 12 comfortable maximum: if more, split into separate sessions

Time: allow 90 minutes: numbers given below are guessed guidelines

Time: up to 5 minutes

• People mix and talk freely, to find the best pairings where they:
  1. share a topic of common practical interest (important)
  2. may not agree on detail, strategy, tactics, values (likely in any case)
  3. would like a better understanding of each other (vital attitude)
  4. could imagine working/being together around this topic (for motivation)
• As long as one pair emerges, no matter if more do not
• If there are over 12 people, this would best be done all together, then the pairs would divide.

• ALTERNATIVELY: the pair may be pre-arranged

Time: 2 minutes

• If more than one pair in one group, quick straw poll vote on which pair to proceed with
• The pair of story-tellers separate, taking half the remainder with each of them
• The others are participant-listeners

The next 3 steps are done in the two separate teams

Time: 10 minutes

• Each story-teller tells their listening team a story relevant to the topic
• Listeners note what they hear of the belief system and ontology
• Interruptions are ONLY if the story-teller cannot be heard or is not understood

Time: 20 minutes

• A scribe may be chosen from the listening team
• Listeners ask questions to elicit and fill in story-teller's belief system
• Listeners MAY ONLY USE TERMS ALREADY USED BY THE STORY-TELLER when asking questions
• Listeners may:
  1. ask the story-teller “Do you believe … ?”
  2. ask story-teller to expand on part of the story
  3. ask “could you say more about X” (where X is a term already mentioned)
     • this may bring up other terms or beliefs, BUT MUST NOT BE FORCED!
• When story-teller acknowledges a belief, scribe notes it for the team
• The belief system records are NOT shared between the two teams

Time: 10 minutes

• In a separate place that can be shared, each team lists the terms used in the belief system
  • entities, with optional attributes
  • relationship terms — BUT NOT beliefs about the actual relationships

Time: as required within time available — this is the actual ontological commoning

• Teams rejoin and look at each other's ontologies
• Both story-tellers, supported by their teams:
  • ask questions about the mapping of terms in each ontology
  • may ask for examples from the other story-teller or team
• Scribes and/or listeners note mappings
• The aim is to find and document common ontological ground
  • to be common ground, it must be confirmed by the story-tellers
  • common ground could be found at the domain level, and/or at meta-levels

Time: whatever remains, or arranged as follow-up

• Story-tellers celebrate common ground, and may
  • identify and confirm shared beliefs
  • describe how their own ontology or beliefs have shifted
  • arrange to meet later to co-create shared stories
• Other participants:
  • describe their experience
  • comment on potential usefulness and possible contexts of use
  • suggest improvements or added details

• ontological commoning