Difference between revisions of "The Open Lobby"
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Revision as of 00:24, 29 December 2007
Contents
Background
The infrastructure of our world-famous democracy is outdated and crumbling, and the devastating consequences of this sad state of affairs are all around us.
Fortunately, recent technological developments offer new hope of tapping into our collective intelligence and passions, in order to craft a better foundation for our society.
Talking about technology and society may bring to mind electronic voting machines, endless blog battles, pervasive advertising, and the like; but this is not the point. Grafting new technology onto outdated systems can be useful at times, but it can also result in problems being "fixed" with surface gloss, or simply obscured by a new layer of expectation.
Wiki successes
Systems that are based on new technology – specifically, wiki-based systems – have proven successful beyond expectation. Wikipedia, an encyclopedia built entirely by volunteers, has yielded some excellent articles. Many of those articles are on topics that are deeply controversial (find good examples) where one might reasonably expect passionate disagreement to prevent meaningful consensus. And in a more specific example, New Zealand set up a wiki-based web site to capture the public's views on what a new Policing Act might look like; by all reports, it yielded innovative ideas, and was a resounding success.
- wikipedia:Mary Ramsey Wood
- Several Wikipedia editors collaborated to establish with some certainty that Wood, dubbed the "Mother Queen of Oregon" by the state legislature, and commemorated in many places as having lived to age 120, was in fact only 97 at the time of her death.
- wikipedia:Barlow Road
- Several Oregon editors collaborating on this article shared some confusion about the historical record of Sam Barlow and Joel Palmer's blazing of the end of the Oregon Trail, which in many sources did not seem to match the geography of the region. Through a careful reading of Palmer's journals, we found the text that might have confused someone unfamiliar with the area, and wrote a correct and clear version.
- wikipedia:User talk:Katr67#William Pope McArthur
- One editor created an article on this historical figure, which within about half an hour had a "domino effect" of collaboration among several editors from different states, affecting several articles.
- wikipedia:Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
- A conservative activist and blogger made a sustained effort to include numerous criticisms of this book, many of which were unacceptable for various reasons. A number of Wikipedia editors, including the blogger, worked together to find an acceptable resolution, which included edited versions of two of his criticisms. Wikipedia article sustained efforts of a political actor trying to advance a biased point of view at the expense of an author and politician. The process was highly contentious, but the result was good. (See talk page for much of the discussion.)
- wikipedia:Heather Wilson
- similar to above (see DCYF section.)
- wikipedia:Brian Baird
- similar to above (see Position on Iraq section.)
Project
The project envisioned will involve two distinct components.: developing information
