[MG] Social mapping in crossforum theatre

[Michael Allan]

A proposal for a social-structural map for crossforum theatre; also a
request for ideas on how to keep it open for all projects:

Ed and Thomas suggest that we must actually start doing collaborative
governance - or consensus making, or whatever we call our objective -
at some point [1].  Alexander Praetorius reminds us that we won't make
much progress till we can visualize the matter at hand, especially in
its particulars [2].  Conseo is working on a visualization of one
aspect of this.  His diff feed is designed to reveal the dynamics of
consensus making, as it happens.

Those are social dynamics.  To complete the picture, we need a
visualization of the corresponding structural aspect, namely the
particular social structures in which those dynamics are embedded.
Then if we put both aspects (dynamic and structural) side by side in
the theatre app (as feed and map [3]), we'll be able to see the
governance we are collaborating on, or the consensus we are making.
That's the crucial thing.

Technically, what we'd need for this is a social-structural "map" in
the theatre app.  We could start working on it right away, posting
mockups for the visuals, and so forth.  (It'll be a bit of challenge
to design.)

There's a larger problem, though.  How to do this in cross-project
fashion?  We want the theatre app to remain open and inviting to all
projects.  But unlike the dynamics (or more so), the structural
aspects of consensus and governance are closely tied to particular
mechanisms of voting and promulgation.  That means that any structural
map we code is going to be tied to a particular vote-server [4].  How
can we get around this?


[1] Tunisia and activism in general.
    http://metagovernment.org/pipermail/start_metagovernment.org/2011-January/003491.html

    Home page redesign competition.
    http://metagovernment.org/pipermail/start_metagovernment.org/2011-January/003520.html

[2] Tunisia and activism in general.
    http://metagovernment.org/pipermail/start_metagovernment.org/2011-January/003486.html

[3] http://zelea.com/project/votorola/a/crossforum/theatrePlan.png

[4] For example, here's a social-structural visual (outside of the
    theatre app) for a Votorola vote-server:
    http://u.zelea.com:8080/v/w/Votespace?u=Test-be-ZeleaCom&p=G!p!sandbox

    That's a snapshot of the communicative structure of consensus and
    dissensus for a particular (simulated) issue.  A map to visualize
    that kind of thing in crossforum theatre would have a similar
    logical structure (tree-like).  But it would be different (maybe
    not tree-like) for other vote-servers.  That's the problem.

-- 
Michael Allan

Toronto, +1 416-699-9528
http://zelea.com/



Originally posted to the mailing list of the Metagovernment Project:
http://metagovernment.org/mailman/listinfo/start_metagovernment.org