Slugger O'Toole policy tools project
We have a successful constructive bipartisan political weblog in a conflicted polity. We have partnerships with policy-tool developers. We’re going to bring those projects together building an inclusive framework designed to crowdsource good policy. It will be a unique attempt to harness the wisdom of crowds to improve democracy.
About You
Section 1: About You
First Name
Paul
Last Name
Evans
Organization
Slugger O'Toole Ltd
Country
United Kingdom
Section 2: About Your Organization
Organization Name
Slugger O'Toole Ltd
Organization Website
Organization Phone
+44 (0)7973 714206
Organization Address
3, Strand Mews, Holywood, Co Down, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Organization Country
United Kingdom
Your idea
Name Your Project
Slugger O'Toole policy tools project
What is your idea? What makes it innovative? Why is it important?
We have a successful constructive bipartisan political weblog in a conflicted polity. We have partnerships with policy-tool developers. We’re going to bring those projects together building an inclusive framework designed to crowdsource good policy. It will be a unique attempt to harness the wisdom of crowds to improve democracy.
Will you launch your idea as a business or non-profit?
Non-profit
Country your work focuses on
United Kingdom
What will be the impact of your idea?
Northern Ireland's political settlement is sub-optimal. Democratic structures are a top-down 'peace process' fudge designed to avoid the murderous conflicts of the last forty years. Political parties and civil servants are unusually powerful, monopolising public debate and policy processes. Slugger O'Toole has the capacity to provide an un-financed sustainable alternative policy forum using the tools that WeMedia promotes. Our site is already very visible. Recent (about to be launched) developments will increase this. Our readers collaborate to describe problems and present options to politicians - making the hidden processes open. We want to kick-start a revolution in the concepts of consultation, leadership, lobbying and representation and promote new forms of transparency that compliment representative democracy. We want to reinstate the idea that everyone is equal in terms of public influence, and that good ideas rather than ideas promoted by vested interests or unelected elites are the cornerstone of good governance.
Who will help you develop your idea? Why are you the one to make this happen?
The project will be managed by Mick Fealty & Paul Evans of Slugger O'Toole. It will also involve Andrew Regan of Poblish.org (a project that extracts and contextualises content from policy-related blogs, forums & blog comments) & David Price of Debategraph (a tool designed to provide visual representations of arguments & policy options).
Mick & Paul have the public profile, the personal connections, & tech project skills to make it happen - both in Northern Ireland, the UK, and thanks to WeMedia, on a more global scale. Andrew shares our vision and has the technical ability to deliver, and David understands the issues around the structuring of argumentation better than almost anyone around.
Slugger O'Toole is perfect for this idea. We believe that - more than any other political blog - it has higher visibility per-head-of-population in the polity it covers. It is non-partisan. It has established norms covering civility & quality of content & it is actually respected by local politicians & journalists.
It has the profile needed to build the necessary partnership. It also operates in a polity where all parties acknowledge the need for political innovation and gamechanging.
How much will it cost to launch your idea? (This can be an estimate)
Recent investment will see a redeveloped site and the commenting system (launching end-Jan 2010). We now need new technical development (usability improvements and some integration of existing tools - primarily Poblish and Debategraph and some roll-out offline activities to market and promote it. We’ll do a few Barcamp-style 'unconferences' to gather the critical mass that we need and - crucially - to get academics and students involved. There is a UK general election happening in May and we’ll ‘slipstream’ it and be ready for the new government in June. We estimate that we’ll need around 40 days of technical development at $600 (£375GBP - heavily discounted thanks to our partnerships). We’ll need at least 40 days of offline work - organising local events, project management and marketing for the idea. The offline non-tech work would be done at a rate of $400 a day (£250GBP). We need $24k.
This Entry is about (Issues)
 | 124 weeks agoPaul Evans said: Thanks A.B. We have a great opportunity with Slugger / Northern Ireland. It's unusual in that it has a very dominant political blog ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 124 weeks agoPaul Evans updated this Competition Entry. |
| 124 weeks agoa. b said: Please explain why your idea/project, is suited/perfect to using... 'media' ...to bring about A BETTER "WORLD"...the entire planet...? ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 124 weeks agoPaul Evans updated this Competition Entry. |
| 124 weeks agoPaul Evans submitted this idea. |
| 124 weeks agoPaul Evans submitted this idea. |
