CB.4:4.4 - Prepare the space and the material

Choose a physical or digital setting by the interaction it must support. Check whether people can enter, see or hear the material, take turns, ask for clarification and recover the result. For a continuing question-and-answer space, also check whether later users can find an applicable answer and its conditions. For rapid discussion, the ability to exchange and clarify may matter more than a complex information structure.

Test the actual participant path with a representative task. Open the intended material under the participant’s access conditions, try the proposed contribution and obtain the expected return. If a platform’s features or cost matter to the decision, inspect its current terms and behaviour for this use; a remembered product category does not settle that comparison.

Keep the number of spaces proportionate to distinct needs and available support. Split a channel when the difference in audience, material, timing or purpose justifies it and the new route can be found. Avoid requiring people to repeat the same question in several places. Where independent groups already use another space, arrange a permitted connection rather than assuming that all useful relations must move to the organiser’s platform.

For a meeting, make its purpose, preparation and participation understandable before it starts. Provide only material that participants need for the action, and allow enough preparation time. A case may need a short contextual explanation and a relevant diagram; a complete project review needs a larger body of work and inspection time.

Establish the sharing and participation conditions that the material requires. Explain who will be present, what may be retained or shared, whether recording is planned and how to decline a question or stop participation. Use another setting or material when those conditions cannot be met. A promise of a private conversation requires more than a small room or a closed online group.