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note 184

Much later, in 2005, I was part of an online collaboration in which over 30 people had to write one EU proposal, which was called KEHO. We had met each other for 24 hours and then had to collaborate for three months online only. The director of this team, David Benyon from Napier University in Edinburg (UK), appeared to be a master in the art of confirming presence and appreciating effort. Carefully timed and without using many words, he managed to have over 30 people spending lots of their time writing the proposal. Having made a formal structure with project leaders and package leaders, he would sometimes let the self structuring happen, at other times he would use the authoritarian structure to push for decisions and take responsibilities. Presence was confirmed by posting on the mailing list, appreciation of effort mostly occurred in personal emails and only occasionally via the mailing list.