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 > _______________________________________________ > Mailing list [email protected] > Archive, settings, or unsubscribe: > https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public > -- skype: seb.bacon mobile: 07790 939224 land: 0207 183 9618 web: http://baconconsulting.co.uk _______________________________________________ Mailing list [email protected] Archive, settings, or unsubscribe: https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public
