Workaday World XXVI
I just finished doing an hour-long online event on the Spirit of Work on the Web as part of Spirituality.com's Spirituality@Work conference. Spirituality.com is a Web site inspired by the writings of Mary Baker Eddy -- and aids people as they consider their individual spirituality. The conference, which runs three weeks, focuses on balance and purpose, the workplace, unemployment, and ethics. It was an interesting experience.

As the first online event I've participated in as a speaker, I joined a conference call with the conference organizer -- a member of the Company of Friends who credits his job at Spirituality.com to my work at Fast Company -- and a typist. I talked. She typed. That was rather strange, as I'm used to doing my own typing, and I don't really feel like I found a comfortable pace or rhythm for her to keep up with me. Still, she did a fine job.

We'll see how the transcript turns out -- I'm not sure I had anything important or new to say -- but the experience was an oddly disembodied engagement with the online community. I hope I gave people some good ideas, shared some useful resources, and didn't waste anyone's time. The organizer said about 70 people participated in the chat, with about 35 being the maximum participation at any one time. It felt strange dictating to the typist, but I guess that's how large-scale chats are done. Huh.