Hi Seb,
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.
I'm wondering what the workflow would be once a consultation had
closed. What kinds of format are useful for someone running a
consultation? I'm concerned that a very consulted document could
become very hard to read when everything's inline. I can envisage
some kind of paragraph-by-paragraph browsing interface that tidies
things up a bit visually, but I'm not entirely sure.
I haven't made it entirely obvious, but the "Consensus" page has
display options on the right side bar. In fact, all the checkboxes in
the sidebar are filters. You can choose to display or not display
comments, objections, reservations etc. It's up to the reader how
detailed/clear the page should look.
The most important feature, which is not in evidence yet, as there
aren't many users on that page, is the way in which we can exclude the
contributions from people. Have a go at checking/ unchecking the
"include" checkbox. The page only shows content which is "endorsed"
by the people that are included. That's another way for users to
choose how clear / inclusive the page should look.
The other thing I can imagine is some simple way of visualising which
bits of a document are more or less controversial, without the comment
noise.
I was hoping that objections and reservations will fulfill these
roles. Hopefully, users will choose to endorse an existing objection,
or revise it, thereby avoiding duplication, and making things more
readable.
There is also the issue of the troublesome "block" - a way in which an
individual can block and hide an item (again, only visible if the
individual is "included" in the page.
Incidentally, all these terms (objection, reservation, block) come
from the formal consensus decision-making process: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus_decision-making
Anyway, just some thinking aloud based on first impressions. It's
very impressive so far.
Thank you for your review!
I hope I haven't taken up valuable list-space. I really should put
text like this on the site itself.....
Regards,
Tom
On 16 Nov 2010, at 14:35, Seb Bacon wrote:
Hi Tom,
This is a really nice idea. I agree that the UI could do with
tightening up but the concept and general implementation seem very
sound to me.
I'm wondering what the workflow would be once a consultation had
closed. What kinds of format are useful for someone running a
consultation? I'm concerned that a very consulted document could
become very hard to read when everything's inline. I can envisage
some kind of paragraph-by-paragraph browsing interface that tidies
things up a bit visually, but I'm not entirely sure.
The other thing I can imagine is some simple way of visualising which
bits of a document are more or less controversial, without the comment
noise.
Anyway, just some thinking aloud based on first impressions. It's
very impressive so far.
Cheers
Seb
On 16 November 2010 13:55, Tom Kaneko <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear all,
I've been a long time listener of this list, but it's the first
time I have
posted. Bearing that in mind, I have been programming away at
home, to try
to come up with some sort of system for allowing the public to
draft and
edit policy documents. I was spurned into doing this because of a
negative
experience I had with a public consultation (no transparency, loaded
questions, no feedback etc). In the last week, I have put an alpha
version
of the website up online for testing at http://consensuswiki.org .
It isn't
as neat and focused as MySociety projects yet, but I am trying to
build up
to that.
I have made a kind of wiki, which is itemized - almost like minutes
of a
meeting, with special consideration for comments and objections.
Unlike a
wiki, I have been working on the assumption that who the author is
for each
part of a document matters. I think it's easier to show you than
explain
(I'm still working on the spiel!). I think this particular page
might help
you to understand a little about the tool:
http://consensuswiki.org/consensus/sandbox
The problem I have is that the site is a little empty! I could
really do
with filling it up with information so that people can start picking
documents apart. I envisioned government Bills to be converted
into this
"consensus" format, but of course, as we all know, getting machine-
readable
bills data is not possible at the moment. Another possible use is
for the
government to have a truly "public" consultation by publishing
their white
papers and green papers (and whatever other colour there is) on this
platform. Then the public can start picking it apart, and even
amending and
adding to it.
I suppose I have 2 main questions / requests for help:
1. How is the campaign to "free our Bills" going? And will having
a working
example of what free Bills can be used for help?
2. Is there a comprehensive (and preferably machine-readable) list
of public
consultation documents (including white papers and green papers)
that is
publicly accessible? A quick look on Data.gov.uk didn't yield a
definitive
answer.
(3. Can you think of any other areas in which this tool might be
useful?)
(4. Do you have any questions about the site/tool?)
Thank you for taking the time to read!
Kind regards,
Tom Kaneko
site: http://tomkaneko.com
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