Communicative System

[Alex Rollin]

Mario,

I am starting another thread that might lure Mike into talking more about
theory, where he wants to go, and what would help with that peripherally or
directly, and answer your question.  I don't think I can answer your
question, really, so I'll just point.

http://zelea.com/project/votorola/d/theory.xht

I spent some time looking for the quick write-up Mike did of the theory he
wants to research, which was written to this list.  Couldn't find that, so
I'll give you a quick link to all the pages that have been created in our
user spaces on the wiki:

http://u.zelea.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Special:PrefixIndex&from=&namespace=2

Alex






--
Alex

“It’s no longer possible for a country to collapse in isolation. Now we all
collapse.

The only path to stability is to equalize the consumption rates of the first
and developing world. Our dream is no longer possible in the new world.” -
Jared Diamond March 2010



On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 11:22 PM, Its me Mario
<puffpastryhangman at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I stumbled across votorola a few weeks ago and I've been listening in on
> the google group when time allows. I've been extremely busy so no time to
> get involved so far (plus not sure what I can bring to the table at this
> point) but this seems like a good time to poke my head in and say hello.
>
> I'm studying voting-based interaction on the web towards a Sociology/Stats
> PhD at a UK University, but the reason I got into that initially was a
> strong interest in E-Democracy... I couldn't find any really interesting
> examples of e-democracy to study two years ago, so I've been studying mostly
> Social News sites until now.
>
> I tried to make my own democratically run non-profit shop last year (still
> up at www.socapital.org) before realising that I really don't have the
> programming/web-dev skills to advance e-democracy platforms myself in any
> meaningful way.
>
> My background is in experimental psychology and I've produced a journal
> article or two while I was doing that. Experimentation and analysis is what
> I think I could bring to the Votorola project, although I don't know whether
> that's on the current list of priorities...
>
> At the point where there's some sort of prototype of the software up and
> running I could recruit participants and run experimental instances of it
> (provided I can play with some of the variables of how it works). Or, if you
> get an instance of the software up and running for public consumption and
> provide me with detailed data on how its being used I could analyse that to
> see what I can learn. The goal in both cases would be to produce some
> findings to publish in a journal article or present at conferences... so it
> could conceivably help the project both by increasing understanding and
> increasing awareness among academics.
>
> Like I say I'm very busy these days, but I'll continue to follow the
> project and if you think of some way that I can help out then let me know!
>
> Richard
>
> On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 9:23 PM, Michael Allan <mike at zelea.com> wrote:
>
>> Alex understands the top-level design of the prototype.  I think he
>> also has domain requirements similar to yours David, because it
>> appears that his use cases place similar stresses on the design.  You
>> guys should talk, as Alex says.
>>
>> David you mention "common goals".  Just quickly, here are my
>> longstanding goals:
>>
>>  1. Start building the theory.
>>     a) Explore and document the theory in academic papers.
>>     b) Open a discourse with academics and other theoreticians.
>>  2. Finish prototyping the practice.
>>     a) Put the architectural documents in proper form.
>>     b) Prototype a UI client, such as crossforum theatre (hard).
>>     c) Prototype free-range drafting (easy).
>>
>> Alex may also need 2a and 2b, so we're trying to coordinate.  I hope
>> to start shifting my work in that direction by next week.  (Just need
>> to catch up on emails Alex (including yours) and post a theory outline
>> first.)
>>
>> Same for you David.  If you need anything under 1 or 2, then we can
>> try to coordinate.  But my intial impression is that you have other
>> priorities ("delivering an outcome for a client") and you see 1 and 2
>> as premature.
>>
>> David Bovill wrote:
>> > ... the scope of any such project can easily be limited to
>> > delivering an outcome for a client - after which everyone can go
>> > back to their own thing taking whatever code, assets and experiences
>> > were generated by the work (as these would be open).
>>
>> Without a complete, functional prototype we have nothing in principle
>> to deliver to anyone, never mind a paying client (if that's the hope).
>> We're still exploring the design possiblities, still pioneering.  I
>> doubt we're anywhere near any kind of a production stage, yet.  But I
>> guess it depends on what we put into it.  So if you want to accelerate
>> things, please consider putting stuff into the prototyping effort -
>> "after which", as you say, "everyone can go back to their own thing" -
>> you to your clients, Alex to his co-ops, I to my theory, and so forth.
>>
>> --
>> Michael Allan
>>
>> Toronto, +1 647-436-4521
>> http://zelea.com/

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