The document provides a brief user's guide for Dialogue Mapping, which is a method for structuring conversations to build shared understanding. It discusses issue-based information systems (IBIS) and how IBIS conversations are structured with different types of nodes, including questions, answers, pros and cons. It provides guidance on starting and participating in an IBIS conversation, including adding nodes and maintaining constructive dialogue. The goal is to maximize useful information and minimize unnecessary discussion.

1. A Brief User’s Guide
Jack Park
Latest: 20100905
© 2010 Jack Park; License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

2. “Dialogue Mapping™ is a proven
method for building shared
understanding and shared
commitment. If you deal with wicked
problems, that's a capability you are
going to need.”—Jeff Conklin*
*http://www.cognexus.org/

3.  What is an IBIS Conversation?
 IBIS Conversation Basics
 Basic Node Types
 Various views of IBIS conversations
 Starting a Conversation
 Participating in a Conversation
 Conversation Best-Practices

4.  IBIS = Issue-based Information Systems
 Created for solving Wicked Problems
 Structured conversation
 Wicked Problem:
 Highly complex
 Many world views, passionate beliefs
 No obvious known solution(s)
 Frequently don’t know what the right question(s) to
ask are
 Requires lots of conversations
 Collect and organize—structure—those conversations

5.  IBIS Extension for MediaWiki
 Install to facilitate IBIS Conversations
 To participate
 Must be logged in
 Must be willing to participate in thoughtful ways
 Must be willing to listen deeply to what others are
saying

6.  IBIS collects and organizes conversations in tree
structures
 IBIS conversations are structured collections of
nodes:
 Maps to collect conversations
 Questions to describe issues or ask questions
 Answers to take positions when answering a
question
 Pro nodes to support a position
 Con nodes to refute a position

10.  Click on the new conversation tab
 Describe the conversation
 Click Save

11.  Now ready to add nodes
 Click the response link

12.  Select Node Type
 Ask the question (end with a ? )
 Explain with details
 Click Save

14.  Select Node Type
 Answer the question
 Add details
 Click Save

15.  Goals for any conversation
 Collect and structure questions, ideas, and
arguments about a particular situation
 Maximize the amount of signal (beneficial
information)
 Minimize the amount of noise (useless conversation)
 Maintain the integrity of the social setting
 No personal attacks in arguments

16.  An IBIS Conversation be:
 Like a chat room where people want to get to know
each other better
 Like a design room where people are collecting design
ideas
 Like a situation room where people are trying to
organize information resources about some situation
 Like a debate room where arguments are collected and
structured for varieties of purposes
 A Single IBIS Conversation cannot be all of the
above

17.  The purpose of any node in a conversation is to
provide a root node for further conversations about one
topic
 A question should be about one topic
 Each answer node to a question should cover one topic
 Example:
 Question: “what are the known causes of climate change?”
 Answer : “ CO2, Methane, and Waterfalls cause climate change”
 Reasons that answer is a poor one:
 We might agree with the first two topics—no further dialogue
needed
 We might disagree with the third topic captured in that single
answer.
 By breaking that one answer into three separate nodes, we gain the
opportunity to treat each topic individually, as if it is the beginning of
a new conversation

18.  Goals to keep signals high and noise low call for
care in forming arguments
 Example arguments:
 “I disagree”
 The only information conveyed is that someone disagrees. A
conversation benefits when everybody learns why there is a
disagreement
 “I disagree because…”
 Possibly a valuable argument, but that will depend upon the
nature of what follows because
 e.g.: “because I read it in the newspaper” further begs the
credibility of the argument
 e.g.: “because (Smith, 2007, p-34) argues that…” is liable to
convey beneficial information to the conversation