Originally, “The Junto was a club established in 1727 by Benjamin Franklin for mutual improvement. Its purpose was to debate questions of morals, politics, and natural philosophy, and to exchange knowledge of business affairs.” [wikipedia]
This was a concept for an online platform for practicing the art of dialogue and sharing knowledge in a public forum.
We got a simple open source version up and running out of Parsons at the New School while I was in graduate school there.
Today, the technology to support such engagement exists via Google Hangouts + their livestream option, Hangouts on Air.
Below are the posts that documented the unfolding of that project:
Junto: Discussing Ideas Worth Spreading
Open Letter to Tim Berners-Lee: Help Us Build Junto
Assembling a Game Changer at The New School
Junto: overview of concept, philosophy, and components
emergent by design 