On Nov 28, 2009, at 5:22 AM, Jonathan Gray wrote:
The incubator project could let people propose, vote and comment on
ideas. Mike Chelen recently suggested we could use IdeaTorrent (GPL)
for this:
http://www.ideatorrent.org/
As an alternative, may I suggest Vilfredo? The difference is in the
view of voting. IdeaTorrent allows groups to identify the most popular
answers. However, the most popular answer is not always the best
answer. Often a much better answer comes from ingenious thinking and
doesn't make sense to everyone at the outset. And just as likely, the
best answer might be none of the proposed answers, but rather
something which blends and synthesizes various answers proposed by
different people. Or a great answer might come along late in the game,
and not be able to get enough votes since a so-so answer already has a
lot of support.
Vilfredo is a tool (admittedly in, roughly, late alpha) which actively
promotes idea development.
It allows everyone to propose answers to a question and then vote on
the answers. It does not pick the most popular answer, but rather
winnows down the answers to a "Pareto front." Or in lay terms: to the
minimum set of answers where everyone's votes are represented. it then
repeats its process ad infinitum until it reaches a consensus. You can
read how it works in detail here:
http://metagovernment.org/wiki/Vilfredo#How_it_works
As rounds of voting progress, people end up morphing their answers,
integrating bits of other answers, or even developing entirely new
ideas based on the answers provided by others.
Again, the tool is still in a somewhat early stage of development, so
it takes a little getting used to, but you can use it without any
setup (other than a login):
http://vilfredo.org/
Though you may wish to read the FAQ before you dive in, or the
metagovernment.org link above.
It also supports "rooms" so that you can make a dedicated OKFN room
that is not visible to the general viewer.
Ed Pastore
http://metagovernment.org/wiki/User:Ed_Pastore
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