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  <h1>Meta XRepublic</h1>

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<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Design &amp; Discussion on Computer Mediated Deliberation</td>

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  <div align="right">Roberts Rules for the Internet Generation</div>

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        <p align="right"><font face="Courier New" size="6" color="#FFFFFF"><b>discussion</b></font> 

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<tr class="hCalendarMonthYearRow"><td colspan="7" align="center"><b>April 2003</b></td></tr>

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<td class="hCalendarDay" align="center" style="font-size:9px">1</td>

<td class="hCalendarDay" align="center" style="font-size:9px">2</td>

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<td class="hCalendarDay" align="center" style="font-size:9px">27</td>

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<td class="hCalendarDay" align="center" style="font-size:9px">30</td>

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<td>&nbsp;</td>

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Mar   May
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        <p><font size="3"><div align="left" class="medium"><a href="http://www.mdcbowen.org/blog/" class="navigatorLink">Home</a></div><div align="left" class="medium"><a href="http://www.mdcbowen.org/p1/cobb/about.htm" class="navigatorLink">About Cobb</a></div><div align="left" class="medium"><a href="http://www.mdcbowen.org/p1/fpp" class="navigatorLink">FPP</a></div><div align="left" class="medium"><a href="http://www.mdcbowen.org/p2/rm" class="navigatorLink">RMHC</a></div><div align="left" class="medium"><a href="http://www.mdcbowen.org/p1/cobb" class="navigatorLink">Cobb Static</a></div></font><p></p>

        

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      <td bgcolor="#CCCCFF"><b>Primary Documents</b></td>

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        <ul>

          <li><font size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/what.htm">XRepublic: What is 

            it?</a></font></li>

          <li><a href="http://www.mdcbowen.org/p5/cmd/xrep/demo/index.htm">Static 

            Demo</a></li>

          <li><font size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/barriers.htm">Barriers to Deliberation</a></font></li>

          <li><font size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/design.htm">Primary Design 

            Doc</a></font></li>

          <li><font size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/faq.htm">XRepublic FAQ</a></font></li>

          <li><font size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/anno-bib.htm">Annotated Bibliography</a></font></li>

          <li><font size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/xrsys.htm" target="_blank">XR 

            Systems</a></font></li>

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    <tr bordercolor="#000000"> 

      <td bgcolor="ccccff"> <b>Conceptual Documents</b></td>

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        <ul>

          <li><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/cheating.htm">Cheating 

            &amp; Tyranny</a></font></li>

          <li><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/wonkpath.htm">The 

            Wonk Path</a></font></li>

          <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/agoras.htm">The 

            Agoras</a></font></li>

          <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/partisans.htm">Partisans 

            &amp; Independents</a> </font></li>

          <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/wonking_in_the_agoras.htm">Wonking 

            in the Agoras</a> </font></li>

          <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/multidimensional_cred.htm">Multidimensional 

            Credibility</a> </font></li>

          <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/voting.htm">Voting 

            Mechanisms </a></font></li>

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    <tr bordercolor="#000000"> 

      <td bgcolor="ccccff"><b>Originating Ideas (Oct. 1998)</b></td>

    </tr>

    <tr bordercolor="#000000"> 

      <td> 

        <ul>

          <li><font size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/entity_list.htm">voterverse 

            entities</a></font></li>

          <li><font size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/implementation_ideas.htm">implementation 

            ideas</a></font></li>

          <li><font size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/gravity_thread.htm">the gravity 

            thread</a></font></li>

          <li><font size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/sample_issues.htm">sample issues 

            / arguments</a></font></li>

          <li><font size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/sample_issue_page.htm">sample 

            issue page</a></font></li>

          <li><font size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/litmus1.htm">sample litmus test</a></font></li>

        </ul>

      </td>

    </tr>

    <tr bordercolor="#000000"> 

      <td><b>Current Implementation Ideas</b></td>

    </tr>

    <tr bordercolor="#000000"> 

      <td> 

        <ul>

          <li><font size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/objects.htm">Objects &amp; Classes</a></font></li>

          <li><font size="2">Pseudocode</font></li>

          <li><font size="2"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/topicSeed.htm">TopicSeed</a></font></li>

        </ul>

        <ul>

          <li><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="../../xrstatic/xrstatic/citizen.htm">Citizen</a></font></li>

          <li><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">House</font></li>

          <li><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Resolution</font></li>

          <li><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sidebar</font></li>

          <li><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Thread</font></li>

          <li></li>

        </ul>

      </td>

    </tr>

    <tr bordercolor="#000000"> 

      <td>&nbsp; </td>

    </tr>

  </table>

  <p>&nbsp;</p>

</td>

<td width="633" valign="top" height="545" bgcolor="#FFFF99">Wonking in the Agoras<p>

Wonking in the Agoras

Framers Wonk and Polish.

Hunting & Gathering

i find it difficult to imagine being able to Wonk alone although many might be

drawn to it. since Credibility is established by the Weight of Arguments, one

would expect some slick purveyor to be able to spin something nebulous into

getting lots of approval.

but the way the voting process works, things should be weighted in favor of

Partisans working in cooperation, thus Wonking should favor those able to

deliver votes and those able to respond to disagreement with their

Arguments. this drama should play itself out in the Agoras.

the concepts that stick in my head are the PeanutGallery and the YakPool.

these are roughly equivalent - hell they are equivalent i just can’t tell which

name i like better. the point is that they would be the equivalent of what all

webchat is today - unmoderated, free-for-all flame-baiting masses of blather

trying unsuccessfully to gain concensus.

however, it is often in the fray where provocation works best. an original idea

will stand out every once in a while and people will say ‘hey - what he said’.

so it is this grass roots thrash (MoshPit - that’s the other name i had for it)

where consensus starts. WarpandWoof. OK how about if we have several

free-for-all Agoras (WarpAndWoof, MoshPit, YakPool, PeanutGallery). There

any thread may generate Gravity (yeah) and Citizens, especially those

unattached to any Partisan group, can generate Facts & Premises, construct

Arguments and have them attached to Issues.

But in order to attach an Argument to an Issue there must be some level of

consensus. so let’s set an arbitrary threshold of 5 for Attachment. i think

that the threshold for Attachment should be relatively low, or it should vary

depending on how many Arguments are already Attached to an Issue -either

Pro or Con. (let’s not forget TalkingPoints/amicus briefs).

OK so Arguments generated from the GrassRoots (the collective free-for-all

Agoras) are Floated by individual Citizens. I’m in the YakPool talking current

events and the subject of discussion is Clinton’s sexuality, I post something

and an option on my Reply Message Form is a checkbox to Float this as an

Argument/Premise/Fact. I can Float any previous comment I own.

In come the Citizens who are a-Wonking. Thread by thread they can take a

quick survey of Floated comments. A comment floats for a week. It can Fly

or it can Sink. These are then constructed and Attached to Issues. That’s

(part of) Wonking.

Polishing

The other part of Wonking (beside the Hunting and Gathering described in

post 7) is Polishing. it seems to me that an Argument must have its own

integrity before it can be Attached, because once Attached to an Issue it is

subject to WeighIn. There may certainly be some gems which just work

straight outta beta, but most would probably need some spell-checking etc.

So the well supported Argument should stand to be Polished a bit all at the

behest of the Citizen who originally Floated it. certain Premises and Facts

should be associated with the Argument, or they can be considered

‘axiomatic’ - a kind of take it or leave it Argument. Onced Polished, an

Argument still belongs to the originator, but there may be some quid pro quo

negotiated in the Polishing.

So the Polished Argument is given an official number and Version and

submitted for Attachment to an Issue. It is likely that all those who show an

interest in the Issue will have a say in Argument Attachment. the trick is that

with non-controversial Issues how the unpopular Pro or Con might get

attached (oh wait, there’s a lower threshold if there are few significant

Arguments).

The Attached (Polished) Argument is then ready for WeighIn and announced

somehow. Citizens may then WeighIn on the Argument and its relative

Significance to the Issue is calculated relative to the

Weight(Agreement,Reputation,Intensity) it receives from Citizens as

compared to other Attached Arguments.

<td width="106" valign="top" height="545"> 

  <p>&nbsp; 

</td>
<td height="2" width="240">cobb, the blog 

<td height="2" width="633">&nbsp; 

<td height="2" width="106"> 

  <div align="right"><a href="../../xrstatic/200212140730.htm">&copy; Copyright 2003 

    Michael Bowen. </a><a href="http://radio.xmlstoragesystem.com/rcsPublic/mailto?usernum=0117456" title="Click here to send an email to the editor of this weblog."><img src="http://static.userland.com/shortcuts/images/qbullets/mailto.gif" width="14" height="10" border="0" alt="Click here to send an email to the editor of this weblog."></a><br>

    <font size="-1"><i>Last update: 4/12/2003; 7:18:29 PM.</i></font><br>

     

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