Full Circle Associates

I've been experimenting with online elements complements F2F meetings. For the last 4 years I've used online interaction tools pre, during and post-event for learning and community events. It is great to see others doing the same such as the upcoming Supernova Community Connection.

Value for Registrants/Onsite Participants
It has been easy to see the value that online opportunities in preparation pre-gathering (relationship building, agenda negotiation, building content background, etc), note taking during (wiki, IRC, blogs, simple note taking for later sharing) and post-event wrap up and synthesis. The biggest challenges I've found is the effect of unqual participation across the group, but this happens offline as well. F2F synchronous backchannel deserves some attention in a later post. ;-)

What is the Legitimate Participation of Remote Folk?
The blog and wiki for Supernova are available to non-registrants. The question is what is their role? I've peeked into events like this from a distance. I enjoyed being part of an IRC chat for a couple of hours at PlanetWorks earlier this month. But mostly because I knew some of the folks in the chatroom. Other times I've found it primarily a pretty solitary activity. A case of barely legitimate peripheral participation? Do onsite folks want to waste precious time with non registered offsite folks? Registered offsite folks?