Soup.GroundPlane.org http://soup.groundplane.org/ Soup.GroundPlane.org http://soup.groundplane.org/ http://asset.soup.io/asset/0020/8952_3637.gif 45 45 CNAME in place; now displaying in my domain. 18JAN08 "The Allophilia Project - a new framework for understanding effective intergro..." <p>"<p>The Allophilia Project - a new framework for understanding effective intergroup leadership</p> <p>"The very things a leader does to promote strong identification and cohesion within a group can exacerbate conflicts with other groups. This creates one of the most painful dilemmas of leadership: the tradeoff between ingroup and outgroup effects."</p> <p>Todd L. Pittinsky</p>"</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://www.allophilia.org/">The Allophilia Project</a></p>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:42:31 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/48054679/The-Allophilia-Project-a-new-framework-forurn:www-soup-io:1:48054679quote "“As we communicate with people around the world, we must move beyond messagin..." <p>"<p class="quote">“As we communicate with people around the world, we must move beyond messaging. We need to listen more and lecture less. We have to learn how people listen to us, how our words and deeds are actually heard and seen.”</p> <p class="quot"> —<em>Judith McHale,<br /> U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs<br />June 11, 2009</em></p>"</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://ash.harvard.edu/pdc/">Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation | Public Diplomacy Collaborative</a></p>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:51:05 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/48047681/As-we-communicate-with-people-around-theurn:www-soup-io:1:48047681quote "The sort of thing boosterism doesn't account for: increased Balkanization of ..." <p>"<p><b>The sort of thing boosterism doesn't account for: increased Balkanization of individuals.</b></p><blockquote>[I]ncreasing access now has the sole effect of giving agents more potential partners to select from. Since agents prefer similar partners, increasing access allows them to find more and more partners of the same type to form connections to. Thus, the number of affiliations per agent will decrease and Balkanization increases. For our particular society, with universal access, all agents connect only to those of the same type, so the Index of Balkanized Affiliation reaches a maximum of one."</blockquote><img src="http://www.indigosim.org/tutorials/balkanization/BvsA_cc3_s_9.JPG" />"</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://www.indigosim.org/tutorials/balkanization/t3s4.htm">A Simple Model of Increasing Access</a></p>Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:51:06 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/47666958/The-sort-of-thing-boosterism-doesnt-accounturn:www-soup-io:1:47666958quote ""[T]o flourish, humans need to develop virtues of independent thought and ack..." <p>"<p>"[T]o flourish, humans need to develop virtues of independent thought and acknowledged social dependence"</p> <p>In "<a href="http://books.google.ca/books?id=TXj3AklQkmUC">Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues</a>" under "the conditions for human flourishing", Alasdair MacIntyre notes that, "The virtues of rational agency need for their adequate exercise to be accompanied by what I shall call thethe virtues of acknowledged dependency" including, as Carol Taylor points out in <a href="http://books.google.ca/books?id=pGEgriGjWo8C">her "Health and Human Flourishing"</a>, includes "the attentive and affectionate regard for others".</p>"</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://books.google.ca/books?id=TXj3AklQkmUC">Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues" By Alasdair MacIntyre</a> at Google Books</p>Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:41:22 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/47666126/T-o-flourish-humans-need-to-developurn:www-soup-io:1:47666126quote "Discourse variance" ... two faced in daily life The classic case I encountered in the literature is this: an Australian woman is drawn out to describe her views and opinions concerning Aboriginal people. Over the course of interviews, with the method being applied to explore the "variance", what she says can clearly be seen as belonging to two "heaps". One heap consists of utterances that are, if only very mildly, sympathetic. The other heap is comprised of utterences that are, foundationally, prejudiced.<br /><br />The first thing to note is that there's nothing "flaming" about the prejudiced statemets. The material is <i>substantially</i> racist, but it is stated as though reasonable and balanced ... nothing obviously inflammatory in the style.<br />And with the "sympathetic" statements we find something similar; these are almost as under-stated as they are vague.<br /><br />And now we get to the crux of the matter: the attributions in the "racist" heap actually cross over into the "sympathetic" heap. If there's "variance" in the attitude, I read a consistent set of foundations. What qualifies the reference group for "sympathy" is the same set of attributes used in the racist heap to qualify them for scorn. The difference in attitude is an attitude towards an invariant set of characteristics, characteristics which (need it be said?) are actually not supported by sociological data. (That a large proportion of a visible minority are living in poverty is not evidence that this group is characteristically lazy or pre-disposed to criminality!)<br /><br />One aspect in particular here attracted and held my attention, given my project's brief and mandate. (<b>I.e.: how do we generate, support, and nurture wholesome community? Design and deploy a community decision making system that serves this end.</b>)<br />Setting aside motive (I think in both cases the woman aimed at image maintenance; she wanted to be seen / known as thoughtful and considerate.) I imagined how she, as presented, could be subjected to manipulation, with her two heaps of variant discourse utterances serving as hooks.<br /><br />And what came to mind was this: the "sympathetic" heap seemed to me the stuff of "Damned with faint praise"; though the material was cast as benevolent it was actually presented as a basis for paternalism. (I can practically hear her, voice shrill, lamenting how "<i>Those people are never grateful for what we're trying to do for them</i>" or some such.) The Aboriginals were presented as being "other" by their nature, and requiring integration for the reason of their being distinct. The "sympathy" was actually patronizing and superior. So these utterances set the stage for the imposition of authoritarian activity ... in the name of "doing good for others". There was something like pity in her words, but nothing like a call for justice.<br />The "prejudiced" set of statements were, essentially, defeatist. The attributions were so substantial and so fixed that ... except for wanting to seem caring ... the situation was to be accepted as hopeless.<br /><br />In neither of the heaps was there any jingoistic call for some sort of "crack-down". And yet both heaps (or either, played individually) could serve the support the most draconian policy decisions e.g. eugenics.<br /><br />My contention is that "debate" of the facts absent appreciation for subjective narrative will only lead to polarization. The participant in this experiment exhibited a consistent world-view, regardless of variation in her discourse. Any policy position that challanged that world-view would, necessarily, threaten her attempts at image maintenance and would, probably, give rise to energetic reaction.<br /><br />"I can see how you'd form that view; it does look that way from here" is very different from, "You're closed minded on this, but actually the facts aren't at all in support of your position".<br /><br />I can't care about <i>those people</i> (from an authentic sense of solidarity) and not care about <i><b>this</b> one</i> (because she makes my skin creep).Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:50:39 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/47660883/Discourse-variance-two-faced-in-daily-lifeurn:www-soup-io:1:47660883regular Happening now: OpenCity Workshop <p>Happening now in Edmonton: <a href="http://www.transformingedmonton.ca/">"Transforming Edmonton" Open City Workshop</a>; <a href="http://www.transformingedmonton.ca/index.php/opencity/"> live-cast c/w chat</a><br /><br />* <a href="http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23openyeg"> search Twitter for #OpenYEG hashtag</a><br /><br />----<br />back to <a href="http://participedia.net/wiki/User:BenTremblay">UserProfile: BenTremblay</a> --19:26, 6 March 2010 (UTC)</p> <p> p.s. after the fact I went to a Twitter search site and harvested #YEG tweets. I took the raw material and, through a whole series of macros, transformed it into <a href="http://bentrem.sycks.net/openyeg.html">a single deeply hyper-linked document</a>. Who cares? I care. Anybody else? *looks around* <i>If I cared about that <b>I would have given up years ago</b>!</i></p>Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:16:00 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/47590451/Happening-now-OpenCity-Workshopurn:www-soup-io:1:47590451regular "Fake" participation following up on <a href="http://gnodal.livejournal.com/84178.html">my post, "The Obama WhiteHouse - Civility, OpenDemocracy and Web2.0"</a>:<ul><li>from <a href="http://www.iap2.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&amp;subarticlenbr=422">IAP Journal Symposium on Obama Administration and Public Participation</a><ul><li>"<a href="http://www.iap2.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&amp;subarticlenbr=429">Deterring Fake Public Participation</a>"; Snider, J. H. (2010)</li><li>"<a href="http://www.iap2.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&amp;subarticlenbr=427">Practicing a Participatory Presidency?: An Analysis of the Obama Administration’s Open Government Dialogue</a>"; Konieczka, S. P. (2010)</li></ul></li></ul><br />slightly related:<ul><li>on the validity of "persuasion":</li><ul><li> <a href="http://whither-democracy.blogspot.com/2010/03/persuasion.html">"Persuasion" at Practical Democracy</a></li><li> <a href="http://changingminds.org/caveat.htm">"Caveat - The ethical debate" Is persuasion a loaded gun?" at ChangingMinds.org</a>; <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&amp;gid=2622457&amp;discussionID=12265820">"Would greater skill in this lead to more effective organizations?" in ChangingMinds discussion at LinkedIn</a></li></ul></ul>Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:50:57 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/47407393/Fake-participationurn:www-soup-io:1:47407393regular "Disputatio: (Scholastic) Out of the quaestiones disputatae developed graduall..." <p>"<b>Disputatio:</b> (Scholastic) Out of the <i>quaestiones disputatae</i> developed gradually a rigid form of scholastic disputation. The <i>defensor theseos</i> proposed his thesis and explained or proved it in syllogistic form. The <i>opponentes</i> argued against the thesis and its demonstration by repeating first the proposition and the syllogism proving it, then either by denying the validity of one or the other premises (<i>nego maiorem, minorem</i>) or by making distinctions restricting the proposition (<i>distinguo maiorem, minorem</i>). In the disputations of students under the direction of a magister the latter used to summarize the disputation and to "determine the question". --Rudolf Allers"</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://www.ditext.com/runes/d.html">Dictionary of Philosophy</a></p>Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:55:30 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/47252314/Disputatio-Scholastic-Out-of-the-quaestiones-disputataeurn:www-soup-io:1:47252314quote New (to me) cartoon. *giggle* <a href="http://www.explosm.net/comics/680/"><img src="http://asset.soup.io/asset/0716/7819_0665.png" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.explosm.net/comics/">Cyanide &amp; Happiness</a>Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:41:18 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/47186579/New-to-me-cartoon-giggleurn:www-soup-io:1:47186579regular "7:37AM 1MAR2010 @timoreilly tweeted: "Apps for the Army is live! http://bit...." <p>"7:37AM 1MAR2010 @timoreilly tweeted: "<b>Apps for the Army is live! <a href="http://bit.ly/cOjSkn">http://bit.ly/cOjSkn</a> Many thanks to @<a href="http://twitter.com/ArmyCIOG6">ArmyCIOG6</a> and @<a href="http://twitter.com/corbett3000">corbett3000</a> for carrying this idea forward <a href="http://twitter.com/search?q=%23gov20">#gov20</a> <a href="http://twitter.com/search?q=%23apps4army">#apps4army</a></b>""</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://twitter.com/timoreilly/status/9827133697">Twitter / Tim O'Reilly: Apps for the Army is live! ...</a></p>Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:35:43 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/47129509/7-37AM-1MAR2010-timoreilly-tweeted-Apps-forurn:www-soup-io:1:47129509quote "Archon Fung begins his "Creating Deliberative Publics: Governance After Devol..." <p>"<p>Archon Fung begins his "Creating Deliberative Publics: Governance After Devolution and Democratic Centralism" with the following: "<b>In the <i>Public and Its Problems</i>, John Dewey lamented the stagnancy of democratic political forms in the face of a rapidly changing economy and society.</b>"</p> <p>I can depict my long-historied pre-occupation with a variation of that: in the face of a rapidly changing society and economy I lament <i>the ineffectiveness of democratic political <b>forums</b>!</i></p>"</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/good_society/v011/11.1fung.html">Archon Fung - Creating Deliberative Publics: Governance After Devolution and Democratic Centralism - The Good Society 11:1</a></p>Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:17:56 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/47127887/Archon-Fung-begins-his-Creating-Deliberative-Publicsurn:www-soup-io:1:47127887quote LOL, so familiar. <p><a href="http://geekandpoke.typepad.com/geekandpoke/2010/02/this-time.html"><img alt="9890_335c_400" height="566" src="http://asset.soup.io/asset/0669/9890_335c_400.jpeg" width="400" /></a></p> <p>LOL, so familiar.</p><p>[Reposted from <span class="user_container user55" ><a class="" href="http://soup.robert42.com/post/44213862/LOL-so-familiar"><span class="name">robi42</span></a></span>]</p>Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:42:29 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/47091541/LOL-so-familiarurn:www-soup-io:1:47091541image "What's the right approach to new products? Pick three key attributes or featu..." <p>"What's the right approach to new products? <b>Pick three key attributes or features, get those things very, very right, and then forget about everything else</b>."</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.com/2010/02/if-your-product-is-great-it-doesnt-need.html">Paul Buchheit: If your product is Great, it doesn't need to be Good.</a></p><p>[Reposted from <span class="user_container user55" ><a class="" href="http://soup.robert42.com/post/44937740/Whats-the-right-approach-to-new-products"><span class="name">robi42</span></a></span>]</p>Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:41:36 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/47091456/Whats-the-right-approach-to-new-productsurn:www-soup-io:1:47091456quote "It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer." <p>"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."</p><p>&ndash;Albert Einstein</p><p>[Reposted from <span class="user_container user55" ><a class="" href="http://soup.robert42.com/post/45278795/Its-not-that-Im-so-smart-its"><span class="name">robi42</span></a></span>]</p>Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:41:05 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/47091369/Its-not-that-Im-so-smart-itsurn:www-soup-io:1:47091369quote Re: Facebook integration To activate cross-posting to Facebook, open your Soup's options panel (cogwheel icon) and go to "Automatic exports".<div>  <div>For an existing user, switching to FB Connect as login method is not entirely straightforward and doesn't make a whole lot of sense, so we're not particularly encouraging that. If you want to give it a shot: Log out, go to the front page and click the Facebook Connect button, then provide your existing login data instead of choosing a new username.</div><div><br /></div><div>Does that answer your questions?</div></div><p>[Reposted from <span class="user_container user12" ><a class="" href="http://kitchen.soup.io/post/47087035/Re-Facebook-integration"><span class="name">kitchen</span></a></span>]</p>Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:23:02 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/47088810/Re-Facebook-integrationurn:www-soup-io:1:47088810regular Spot on! So it was there, right under my nose. :-) <p>[Reposted from <span class="user_container user12" ><a class="" href="http://kitchen.soup.io/post/47087035/Re-Facebook-integration"><span class="name">kitchen</span></a></span>]</p>Spot on! So it was there, right under my nose. :-)<br />I really look forward to implementing this; thanks kindly.<br />p.s. sort of odd to have what are comments to this blog showing up in my Soup ... I didn't want that. Shows how targetting / streaming / directing this sort of material gets complicated.<br /> p.s.2 Got it working. Very nice. Know what would be sweet? (<b>RFE!!</b>) To be able to edit the material on the FB side. Publishing in a different context calls for slightly different text; FB is a /very/ different context.Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:20:05 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/47088301/Spot-on-So-it-was-there-righturn:www-soup-io:1:47088301regular heh ... are you keeping it a secret? is this meant as just a preliminary announcement, like a press release? <p>[Reposted from <span class="user_container user9" ><a class="" href="http://updates.soup.io/post/37274369/Facebook-integration-Auto-posting-login-signup"><span class="name">updates</span></a></span>]</p>heh ... are you keeping it a secret? is this meant as just a preliminary announcement, like a press release?<br />I came here expecting "Click this then click that and login here and then go there" sort of instructions. But you've held back the details.<br />Is there some other page with an explanation? or have I overlooked something here?Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:00:05 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/47085489/heh-are-you-keeping-it-a-secreturn:www-soup-io:1:47085489regular "Deliberative democratic theory continues to “come of age.” In this contribut..." <p>"Deliberative democratic theory continues to “come of age.” In this contribution to its development, we assume that deliberation should clarify conflict as well as help participants to discover and forge common interests.<br />Although we want to stress the importance of seeking a genuinely common good, we argue that deliberation can and should in certain conditions include both self-interest and the negotiation of conflicting interests. Convergence, incompletely theorized agreements, integrative negotiation, and fully cooperative negotiations are compatible with deliberative ideals. They are forms of deliberative negotiation.<br />Voting and the negotiation of cooperative antagonists are not themselves deliberative acts but, when they are justified through deliberative procedures and preceded in practice by such procedures, can be accepted by deliberative theorists as legitimate components of democracy complementary to and in some cases integrated with deliberation."</p><p>&ndash;"<a href="http://habermas-rawls.blogspot.com/2010/01/jane-mansbridge-etal-on-deliberative.html">Jane Mansbridge et.al. on Deliberative Democracy</a>" from <a href="http://habermas-rawls.blogspot.com/">the "Political Theory - Habermas and Rawls" blog</a> </p>Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:53:04 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/47084641/Deliberative-democratic-theory-continues-to-come-ofurn:www-soup-io:1:47084641quote "Cohen's first line in this book: "A lucky man lives in many communities." Wha..." <p>"Cohen's first line in this book:<br /> <h3 class="title">"A lucky man lives in many communities."</h3><br /> What came to my mind when I read this was, "Who knows only his side of an argument knows little of that" ... Hume?<br /> But what does this mean these days? We are, typically, historically, closed-minded and biased, at least partial if not prejudiced. How to communicate notions of eclecticism and pluralism to people who are increasingly scattered and superficial?"</p><p>&ndash;Ted Cohen's <a href="http://books.google.ca/books?id=ogEPRnVpx4wC&amp;dq=Jokes:+Philosophical+Thoughts+on+Joking+Matters+Ted+Cohen&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;source=bn&amp;hl=en&amp;ei=X7iOS_7fNob6M_zUrO8M&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=result&amp;resnum=4&amp;ved=0CBkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&amp;q=&amp;f=false">"Jokes: Philosophical Thoughts on Joking Matters" at Google Books</a></p>Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:33:53 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/47082592/Cohens-first-line-in-this-book-Aurn:www-soup-io:1:47082592quote "Our mission is to provide non-partisan information for voters in the Presiden..." <p>"Our mission is to provide non-partisan information for voters in the Presidential election, so that votes can be based on issues rather than on personalities and popularity. We get our information daily from newspapers, speeches, press releases, and the Internet"</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm">OnTheIssues.org - Candidates on the Issues</a></p>Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:48:56 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/46947098/Our-mission-is-to-provide-non-partisanurn:www-soup-io:1:46947098quote And the beat goes on Email from David Crane (<a href="http://www.debatewise.info/">his "Blog Home"</a>) brought me to the DebateWise on <a href="http://debatewise.org/debates/902-america-should-have-universal-healthcare">healthcare: "America Should Have Universal Healthcare</a>. (Note 1: "America" here should read "The United States" ... Canada is in North America ... we have universal healthcare already, thanks very much. Note 2: UPPER CASE SUX, ALWAYS, ALL WAYS) I happen to appreciate David's project, a lot. But this presentation demonstrates everything about the methodology I rejected in the late 90s. (I was creating graphical hyper-linked documents in the late 80s, BTW ... and for that matter was working on collaborative authoring using computing systems in the late 70s ... "computer mediated communications" was daily for me early 70s. So, what's new with you? *grin*) My time with CMap and Compendium, and here with Debate Wise, confirm my dis-inclination.<br /><br />But re-visiting this brought me again to <a href="http://MindMeister.com">http://MindMeister.com</a> ... <a href="http://www.mindmeister.com/maps/public">their collection of public maps</a> is very attractive; <a href="http://www.mindmeister.com/12213323/best-online-collaboration-tools-2009-robin-good-s-collaborative-map">Best Online Collaboration Tools (Robin Good; 2009)</a> recommends itself.<br /><br />On a different tack, SpinScape. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/spinscape">This YouTube video</a> manifests ... what? Gilding a lily? Not quite ... though that's nice and gentle. What I'm thinking of is more in line with "beating a dead horse". I mean exhausting a limited concept ... bringing a tragically constrained conceptualization to it's logical conclusion.<br />"Oooh, look mommy! They let us color different items different colors!" *sigh*<br /><br />And why does it matter? "Civil society" seems so abstract. How about "<a href="http://www.participatorybudgeting.org.uk/blog/archive/2010/02/19/different-types-of-pb...what-is-pb-really-by-ruth-jackson">Participatory Budgeting</a>"? No, don't tell me, let me guess; too boring ... was I close?<br />*sigh*Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:37:40 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/46893185/And-the-beat-goes-onurn:www-soup-io:1:46893185regular "Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organiz..." <p>"Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representative who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions."</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://www.jerrypournelle.com/archives2/archives2mail/mail408.html#Iron">Chaos Manor</a></p>Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:18:41 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/46842426/Pournelles-Iron-Law-of-Bureaucracy-states-thaturn:www-soup-io:1:46842426quote "... realism versus idealism. Realists accept that the world is complicated an..." <p>"<p>... realism versus idealism. Realists accept that the world is complicated and that when you have more than one goal they may be in conflict with one another, and that as a practical matter it is always necessary to make tradeoffs and compromises. Realism is more or less "half a loaf is better than none at all". Idealists, on the other hand, consider anything less than a perfect solution to be a failure. They've got their eyes on the stars and will accept nothing less.</p> <p><strong></strong></p>"</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://www.denbeste.nu/cd_log_entries/2003/05/LeftandRight.shtml">USS Clueless - Left and Right</a></p>Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:47:41 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/46840328/realism-versus-idealism-Realists-accept-that-theurn:www-soup-io:1:46840328quote Participatory Budgeting <a href="http://www.facebook.com/joshalerner">Josh Lerner</a> sent a message to the members of <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&amp;gid=22229870351">Participatory Budgeting</a>.<br /><br />--------------------<br />Subject: New PB email list<blockquote>To complement the discussions on Facebook, the PB Facebook group and The Participatory Budgeting Project are (re)launching the PB email list. The email list existed from 2005 to 2008 at Topica.com – you can see the archives at <a href="http://lists.topica.com/lists/participatorybudgeting/read">http://lists.topica.com/lists/participatorybudgeting/read</a><br />Since there has been so much PB activity recently around the world, and since not everyone uses Facebook actively, we are upgrading to a google group to provide another (more private) forum for discussion and information sharing.<br /><br />Please continue using the Facebook page, but we also invite you to join <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/participatorybudgeting/">the google PB group</a> (which is strictly about PB).</blockquote>see also <a href="http://www.watsonblogs.org/participatorybudgeting/">Participatory Budgeting hosted by WatsonBlogs.org</a>Fri, 26 Feb 2010 04:45:26 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/46495729/Participatory-Budgetingurn:www-soup-io:1:46495729regular "ObamaLama" my buddy calls his article ... ... for sure the sort of thing I wouldn't think of. Anyhow, from Elephant Journal:<blockquote><b><a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/2010/02/the-official-photograph-dalai-lama-meets-with-president-obama/">Big Day for Buddhism: President Obama meets with Dalai Lama. China demands apology.</a></b><blockquote>"On the same day that Tiger Woods gave his Mea Culpa, Buddha, speech, the Dalai Lama (finally) met with President Obama—sending “Buddhism” to number five on Yahoo or Google searches, or something. What? That’s all? Yup. We have no idea what they really talked about."<br /><img src="http://www.elephantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Picture-1051.png" /></blockquote></blockquote>see also the latest from <a href="http://www.thetibetconnection.org/">TibetConnection.org</a>Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:45:31 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/46370489/ObamaLama-my-buddy-calls-his-articleurn:www-soup-io:1:46370489regular "[T]here is an opportunity for a third-party vendor to provide commercial supp..." <p>"<p>[T]here is an opportunity for a third-party vendor to provide commercial support and products around HipHop for PHP. However, without control of the project and the project's copyright and trademark, it's difficult to monetize usage.</p> <p>For instance, who and which company comes to mind when you think about of <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/category/tags/ruby-rails-0">Ruby on Rails</a>? If you said <a href="http://37signals.com/about">David Heinemeier Hansson and 37signals</a>, you'd probably be in the majority. David Heinemeier Hansson founded Ruby on Rails, and his company, 37signals, uses it as the infrastructure to build applications that 37signals sells. Several third-party vendors offer support and related products for Ruby on Rails. However, none are as well known as 37signals, which does not offer support or commercial Ruby on Rails products.</p> <p>Next, who and which company comes to mind when you think about <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source/will-open-government-directive-drive-drupal-usage-360">Drupal</a>? If you said <a href="http://acquia.com/about-us/team">Dries Buytaert and Acquia</a>, you'd probably be in the majority. Dries founded Drupal and then co-founded Acquia to monetize the software itself. Companies can purchase Drupal support and commercial offerings directly from Acquia, which benefits from the awareness associated with Dries being co-founder.</p>"</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source/facebooks-php-doesnt-really-compete-zend-286?page=0,1">Facebook's PHP doesn't really compete with Zend | Open Source - InfoWorld</a></p>Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:49:42 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/46271786/T-here-is-an-opportunity-for-aurn:www-soup-io:1:46271786quote "Sandel challenges us with difficult moral dilemmas and asks our opinion about..." <p>"Sandel challenges us with difficult moral dilemmas and asks our opinion about the right thing to do. He then asks us to examine our answers in the light of new scenarios. The results are often surprising, revealing that important moral questions are never black and white."</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://www.justiceharvard.org/">Harvard's "Justice" with Michael Sandel</a></p>Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:07:58 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/45921587/Sandel-challenges-us-with-difficult-moral-dilemmasurn:www-soup-io:1:45921587quote "Abraham Heschel writes:“What impairs our sight are habits of seeing as well a..." <p>"<p class="MsoNormal">Abraham Heschel writes:</p><blockquote>“What impairs our sight are habits of seeing as well as the mental concomitants of seeing. Our sight is suffused with knowing, instead of feeling painfully the lack of knowing what we see. The principle to be kept in mind is to know what we see rather than to see what we know.”<p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> “Rather than blame things for being obscure, we should blame ourselves for being biased and prisoners of self-induced repetitiveness. Insight is the beginning of perceptions to come rather than the extension of perceptions gone by. Conventional seeing, operating as it does with patterns and coherences, is a way of seeing the present in the past tense. Insight is an attempt to think in the present.”</p></blockquote><p></p>"</p><p>&ndash;cited in "<a href="http://curiositymatters.wordpress.com/about-beginning-and-ending/">Beginning &amp; Ending</a>" in <a href="http://curiositymatters.wordpress.com/">Curiosity Matters</a></p>Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:31:53 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/45870078/Abraham-Heschel-writes-What-impairs-our-sighturn:www-soup-io:1:45870078quote "For pure play web 2.0 company – how to get users to contribute? – how to mone..." <p>"<p>For pure play web 2.0 company – how to get users to contribute? – how to monetize the contribution and inter-linkages?</p> <ul> <li><strong>Either you win big or you lose:</strong> Big becomes bigger and more successful – small becomes smaller and extinct</li> <li><strong>Chance of success very low:</strong> No room for niche player – Small and successful is not possible</li> <li><strong>First mover may not win:</strong> Google was not the first search engine – FaceBook was not the first social networking site</li> </ul> <p><strong></strong></p>"</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://setandbma.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/3-faces-of-web-2-0/">3 Faces of Web 2.0 « Udayan Banerjee’s Blog – From The Other Side</a></p>Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:16:56 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/45227422/For-pure-play-web-2-0-companyurn:www-soup-io:1:45227422quote "The Synaptic Web is not new. It is not a recent trend. It is something that s..." <p>"The Synaptic Web is not new. It is not a recent trend. It is something that started before the advent of HTTP and HTML gave birth to the actual Web and will continue long after the boom of 'real-time' fades away. It is a simple observation that the most interesting aspect of the Internet generally and the Web specifically is not the nodes on the network, but the type, density and flexibility of the connection between them.<br /> <br /> We use the metaphor of the Synapse (the connection between brain cells) as a way to try to relate this idea to the real world - a literal mental model if you will, and over the years, we've observed these connections have morphed in surprising ways. Nodes have atomized (i.e. nodes are now more granular and there are more of them) and the nature of the connections are changing at an accelerating rate."</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://blog.louisgray.com/2010/01/synaptic-web-realtime-is-just-beginning.html">louisgray.com: Synaptic Web: Realtime is Just the Beginning</a></p>Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:36:21 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/44689450/The-Synaptic-Web-is-not-new-Iturn:www-soup-io:1:44689450quote "The perceptive systemic dynamics of information/knowledge processing depend, ..." <p>"The perceptive systemic dynamics of information/knowledge processing depend, directly, upon agile local cognitive systemic weavings, supported by interconnected cooperative systemic networks, and, indirectly, depend upon local mechanisms, connected to nonlocal cognitive interfaces, in which intervene cognitive dynamics of abstraction, supported by local systemic dynamics of reflection, reflexivity and reflexibility."</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://philstrs.blogspot.com/2010/02/on-perception.html">Philosophy, Systems Theory and Risk Science: On perception...</a></p>Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:21:32 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/44687911/The-perceptive-systemic-dynamics-of-information-knowledgeurn:www-soup-io:1:44687911quote "''Quidquid recipitur ad modum recipientis recipitur Medieval adage that synt..." <p>"<p><i>''Quidquid recipitur ad modum recipientis recipitur</i></p> <p>Medieval adage that synthesizes an <i>eidos</i> of proportion: Whatever is received is received according to the mode of receiving of the receiver</p> <p>The (re)tension and the (pro)tension (from the Latin <i>tensio</i>) can consistently be synthesized in an abstract language, as primitive notions to the gathering and utilization of information, in the assumption that the patterns that configure the systems incorporate, in their formative nature, mechanisms of potential rotative projective resonance, linked to the reflexibility of the systems, with appetence and capability to place in relation that which in the systems is the act made proportionately available as presence to the potency (<i>semper quod ens</i>) and that, because of that, determines it.</p> <p>Posted by Maria Ode</p>"</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://philstrs.blogspot.com/2010/01/retension-and-protension-proportion.html">Philosophy, Systems Theory and Risk Science: (re)tension and the (pro)tension: proportion</a></p>Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:20:46 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/44687809/Quidquid-recipitur-ad-modum-recipientis-recipitur-Medievalurn:www-soup-io:1:44687809quote "Increasingly, large media organizations are learning and adapting to the noti..." <p>"<p>Increasingly, large media organizations are learning and adapting to the notion that their job is changing. It is moving from 100% content creation through editorial processes to a mix of original content and what many call ‘content curation’.</p> <p>That is, observing, hand selecting and adding value to content from the social, real-time web. ...</p> <p>This trend is unfolding for many reasons. Economic constraints, technology advances, the evolution of social media and the emergence of the real-time web mean that everyone with a Twitter account can contribute to telling and spreading the story.</p>"</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://blog.js-kit.com/2010/02/04/the-transformation-from-creation-to-curation/">Got Kit? JS-Kit/Echo » "The Transformation from Creation to Curation"</a></p>Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:02:48 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/44685716/Increasingly-large-media-organizations-are-learning-andurn:www-soup-io:1:44685716quote A not completely useless presentation for Haiti aid <blockquote><a href="http://ushahidi.com/">Ushahidi</a>, which means "testimony" in Swahili, is a website that was initially developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election fallout at the beginning of 2008. Ushahidi's roots are in the collaboration of Kenyan citizen journalists during a time of crisis. The website was used to map incidents of violence &amp; peace efforts throughout the country based on reports submitted via the web &amp; mobile phone. This initial deployment of Ushahidi had 45,000 users in Kenya, &amp; was the catalyst for us realizing there was a need for a platform based on it, which could be use by others around the world. Since then we have grown from an ad hoc group of volunteers to a focused organization. The team is comprised of individuals with a wide span of experience ranging from human rights work to software development. We have also built a strong team of volunteer developers in primarily in Africa, but also Europe &amp; the U.S.</blockquote><a href="http://haiti.ushahidi.com">http://haiti.ushahidi.com</a> ... their use of GoogleMaps ++<br /><br />Also of interest: <a href="http://www.pearltrees.com/#N-u=1_46921&amp;N-p=3337033&amp;N-s=1_562921&amp;N-f=1_562921">PearlTrees</a>, a Flash concept mapping thingamabobble.Sat, 06 Feb 2010 06:16:17 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/44640432/A-not-completely-useless-presentation-for-Haitiurn:www-soup-io:1:44640432regular "A recent article in The New York Times discussed the innovation process at Ap..." <p>"<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/weekinreview/31lohr.html">A recent article in The New York Times discussed the innovation process at Apple</a>. Clearly the process begins and ends with Steve Jobs. And clearly Mr. Jobs is a creative genius. He also has a lot of help with top notch design engineers. As a result, Apple is perceived as one of the most innovative companies on the planet.</p> <p>If you have visionary leadership at your company, this might be a good way to go. But companies like Procter &amp; Gamble (P&amp;G) also have strong leadership and they have taken a different route to innovation. P&amp;G has been a leader in Open Innovation, and many of the new products they have launched in the past few years have come from outside the company.</p>"</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://www.business-strategy-innovation.com/innovation-blog.html">Blogging Innovation - Innovation blog articles, videos, and insights</a></p>Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:53:45 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/44566495/A-recent-article-in-The-New-Yorkurn:www-soup-io:1:44566495quote "In several countries more official data are being issued in raw form so that ..." <p>"In several countries more official data are being issued in raw form so that anybody can use them. This forces bureaucrats and creative types to interact in new ways"</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15469415">Data and transparency: Of governments and geeks | The Economist</a></p>Sat, 06 Feb 2010 00:33:24 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/44559828/In-several-countries-more-official-data-areurn:www-soup-io:1:44559828quote "Patterning problems: patterning the problematique The number of problems and..." <p>"<p><a href="http://www.uia.be/node/165?kap=21"><b>Patterning problems: patterning the problematique</b></a></p> <p>The number of problems and their degree of interrelationship are a continuing challenge to comprehension. Without any patterning, the amount of information is overwhelming. The simplistic patternings characteristic of conventional practice in documentation systems are however part of the conceptual problem rather than the solution. They disguise complexity and create deceptive impressions of order where order is lacking, or rather where higher forms of order are implicit.</p>"</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://www.uia.be/node/165?kap=21">World problems project - commentaries | Union of International Associations</a></p>Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:18:15 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/43620980/Patterning-problems-patterning-the-problematique-The-numberurn:www-soup-io:1:43620980quote "The "Do Good Gauge"; Measuring the Democratic Value of an Intelligent Argumen..." <p>"<p>The "Do Good Gauge"; Measuring the Democratic Value of an Intelligent Argument</p> <p></p><blockquote>"Humans have learned scientifically that the exact truth can never be attained or told. We can reduce the degree of tolerated error, but we have learned physically, as Heisenberg discovered, that exactitude is prohibited, because most exquisite physical experiment has shown that "the act of measuring always alters that which is measured".<br />Buckminster Fuller</blockquote>"</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://www.dogoodgauge.com/site/DoGoodGauge/page_contents/display/98">The Do Good Gauge - The Buckminster Fuller Connection</a></p>Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:08:55 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/43238293/The-Do-Good-Gauge-Measuring-the-Democraticurn:www-soup-io:1:43238293quote "An amusing yet deep cutting article titled 'Renouncing Evil Powers' appeared ..." <p>"An amusing yet deep cutting article titled '<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/opinion/14iht-edkeillor.html?ref=global">Renouncing Evil Powers</a>' appeared in the International Herald Tribune this morning written by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrison_Keillor">Garrison Keillor</a>.  My favorite quote from the article goes like this, "War requires very well-brought-up people to do vicious things that they are able to do efficiently because the recipients of their viciousness are unknown to them.""</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://www.onlinepersonalswatch.com/markbrooks/2010/01/is-facebook-a-catalyst-for-world-peace.html">Seasonal Paradise: Is Facebook A Catalyst For World Peace?</a></p>Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:39:17 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/42937775/An-amusing-yet-deep-cutting-article-titledurn:www-soup-io:1:42937775quote "Don't Be a JerkBack when dinosaurs ruled the earth, FM 22-100, Military Leade..." <p>"<h2>Don't Be a Jerk</h2>Back when dinosaurs ruled the earth, FM 22-100, Military Leadership, listed a sense of humor as one of the 23 traits of character. If memory serves, it was number sixteen down the list, between Candor and Competence. So we all got shot up or shot down — big deal. Berating other players sucks the life out of everyone; likewise, we can see the score and know you did a great job."</p><p>&ndash;<a href="http://www.simhq.com/_land2/land_091b.html">SimHQ.com - Land Combat Zone - Roger, Out! TeamSpeak Rules of the Road</a></p>Tue, 19 Jan 2010 04:15:43 GMThttp://soup.groundplane.org/post/42216737/Dont-Be-a-JerkBack-when-dinosaurs-ruledurn:www-soup-io:1:42216737quote