The Open Lobby
Revision as of 03:07, 29 December 2007 by Peteforsyth (talk | contribs) (→Develop policy proposals: +consensus polling)
Contents
Background
(Note to anyone stumbling on this page: this "intro" section is very much in brainstormy phase. You might want to jump ahead to the other sections, which are a little better thought out!) The infrastructure of our world-famous democracy is outdated and crumbling, and the devastating consequences of this sad state of affairs are all around us.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 Grafting new technology onto outdated systems can be useful at times, but it can also result in problems being "fixed" with surface gloss, or simply obscured by a new layer of expectation.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.)
- ALAC at ICANN
- Group of 12 people from all over the world was at loggerheads on self-review with 3 versions. Used wiki and consensus poll to come to 100% agreement. One testimonial from a registrar: "I can't believe you were able to get that group of 12 ppl to agree on anything." (Brandon CS Sanders will expand)
- Omidyar.net
- >92% of 64 people agreed on how to give $12,500 after 4 months, 10,000 forum posts and completely divided community. (brandon will expand)
- Virginia Tech massacre
- Time lapse of Wikipedia article in days after shootings.
- Mentor Graphics
- Used internal wiki to improve communication between developers and QA team during software development, to good effect. Rich Becker's project; ask Ward Cunningham.
- Software testing conference
- agile development – ask Ward.
- Eclipse Foundation
- Used lots of collaborative tools, but wiki took over. Ask Ward.
- Intellipedia
- CIA transitioned to wiki, big story in NYT magazine. Breaking down silos, synthesis became more important than secrecy. Some huge number of new pages – 1000 per day? Jimmy Wales mentioned in testimony to Congress. Ask Ward.
Project
The project envisioned will involve two distinct components
- developing objective, factual, and analytical information about how government and society currently operates
- developing policy proposals
It may be best to focus on the first component, first; but both components will be ongoing.
Develop information resources
This phase could build on and/or compile a number of existing resources. Wikipedia's Oregon portal has a lots of good info that's already had broad input, the Secretary of State's web site has a fair amount of information, there are innumerable reports from various commissions, etc.
This component will probably rely on a wiki-based web site, but other platforms for more structured information (like online databases dabbledb.com or wagn.org) may be more appropriate for some content. See an example on DabbleDB, a database of (some) Oregon ballot measures.
Develop policy proposals
Use an online, collaborative process to develop policy recommendations. The idea would be to generate legislation from a truly inclusive process, and thereby influence the relevant legislative body(s) (Portland City Council, Oregon Legislative Assembly, etc.)
This process would rely on wiki software and, most likely, Consensus Polling or some variant thereof.
Side benefits
Potential pitfalls
Decisions, decisions
- What scale to begin on? (Portland? a school district? Multnomah County? statewide?)