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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