This is the second volume to offer a cross-disciplinary approach to examining dialogue as a communicative medium. It explores different modes of conversation and the application of design conversation within and across various types of human experiences. Coverage examines design conversation from philosophical, cultural, spiritual, and historical perspectives. It also explores philosophical and theoretical perspectives as well as methodological ideas related to conversation.

Patrick M. Jenlink, Professor of doctoral studies and Director of the Educational Research Center, Stephen F. Austin State University. Earlier positions include: Department Chair, Secondary Education and Educational Leadership, Stephen F. Austin State University (1997-2001), Assistant Professor, Western Michigan University (1988-1995) and Senior Research Associate, Learning Systems Change Group (1995-1997). His published books include: Systemic Change: Touchstones for the Future School (IRI Skylight, 1995), Marching into a New Millennium: Challenges to Educational Leadership (Scarecrow Press, 2000), Dialogue as a Means of Collective Communication (Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2005), and Portraits of Teacher Preparation: Learning to Teach in a Changing America (Rowman and Littlefield, 2005). Bela H. Banathy was Professor Emeritus of the Systems and Design Sciences at the Saybrook Graduate School and President of the International Systems Institute. Earlier, he was Associate Laboratory Director at the Far West Laboratory for Research and Development. He was a Past President of the International Society of the Systems Sciences and the International Federation of Systems Research. He published seven books, numerous chapters in books, and over a hundred articles and research reports. Recent publications include: Designing Social Systems in a Changing World (Plenum, 1996), Guided Evolution of Society: A Systems View (Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2000), and Dialogue as a Means of Collective Communication (Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2005).

Introduction.- Design Conversation: Future Building and Consciousness Evolving.- The Conversation Movement.- Design Communication: Systems, Service, Conspiracy, and Leadership.- The Power of Dialogue In Social Systems Design.- Searching Together: Approaches, Methods, and Tools.- Conversation: Creating A Living Metaphor.- Appreciative Inquiry as Conversation.- Rights and Responsibilities in Conversation Practice.- Transcultural Communications: Theory and Practice.- The Critical Role of Dialogue in Emancipatory Systems Design.- Dialogue and Designing our Future: Conversation as Culture Creating and Consciousness Evolving.- The Making of A New Culture: Learning Conversations and Design Conversations in Social Evolution.- The Cogniscopea''¢: Lessons Learned in the Arena.- Narrative Story as Discourse in Systems Design.- Conversation as an Activity System: the Mediational Role of Discourse in Systems Design.- The North End Agora: Design Conversation at the Neighborhood Level.- Conversation as the Communication Method of Choice: Designing New Agoras for the 21st Century.- A Post-Formal Intervention Strategy: The Case of the Texas Educational Model.- The Experiences of Long-Term Practitioners of Bohm¿s Dialogue.- Creating our Shared Future.- Index.