Self-determined publics

[Michael Allan]

Carrying on from Metagov, off-list,* and freenode #votorola:
http://metagovernment.org/pipermail/start_metagovernment.org/2013-July/005640.html
http://zelea.com/var/cache/irc/votorola/2013/07/27
http://zelea.com/var/cache/irc/votorola/2013/07/28

One possible approach is to circle around the issue for a while:

   1. Post a minimal description to Air-L and Liberationtech.  Ask,
      Has this been attempted before?  Is the concept roughly sound?
      Or is it obviously flawed somewhere?

   2. Post a minimal design to Stack Exchange.  Ask, What's a good
      approach to start something like this?  Who should we talk to?
      What are the pitfalls to avoid?

      . . .

I'll start drafting a minimal description tonight.  Or should we be
bold and jump right into it?

-- 
Michael Allan

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


* My replies from an off-list discussion with Stephen Konieczka:

  As I now understand [the method of supporting discourse], the first
  step would be for the participants to reveal the hidden extent of
  their discussion.  Once it's revealed, then the rest of the raising
  would be a matter of individual learning and cultural development
  applied to the whole.  Myself, I mostly want to work on the
  technological side of that.

  [The reason I wanted to know the discursive baseline is p]artly to
  see the material we're developing; that was my original motive.  I
  wanted to get my hands on some "clay" in order to learn pottery.
  But now that the baseline concept has morphed into a self-governing
  public discussion as the first stage of development, this first
  stage now looks to be a miniature of the final stage (public
  autonomy), and not just a lump of clay.

  The answer I've arrived at now [as to how to determine the
  boundaries of the larger discussion] is that the boundaries are
  asserted, claimed as valid, and the claim is defended.  Assertion,
  claim and defense are the nuts and bolts of a given public's
  self-governance.  To the extent they succeed (to the extent the
  claim is valid), they become that public in fact.

  Or at least I feel they are becoming, not merely revealing.  I feel
  that a public can only exist when it's aware of itself.

  Yes, to describe [the boundaries] in total [would require a total
  knowledge that no researcher possesses]... which I think means that
  only the participants together can redeem the claim.  Only they know
  the total complexity of their form.