Long Island Best Practices WIKI: Part 2

We've been reading quite a bit of local news recently on how government operates on Long Island and in New York State generally. This is separate and apart from the "meta-issues" involved in the presidential campaign.

Some advocate getting "mad as hell."

It has been my humble experience that getting "mad" does not cause fundamental change. It only makes things worse.

It's easy to be against something. It is much harder to be for something.

So how do we lower the temperature and at the same time inform and engage the public and governmental entities of all types in a substantive dialogue?

Many of the One Long Island proposals are designed to do just that.

But how about we make an attempt at defining some standards of performance for the types of services we currently have and wish to have in the future, then see who is providing those services in the most effective manner. Then use those ideas as a base line for developing our future service structure(s).

Compare "apples to apples" and be honest with yourself and the public.

"Cherry picking" (enough fruit metaphors) issues and pitting one group against another will not solve anything to any one's satisfaction.

No dogma. Take a fresh look at everything. Collaborate and engage the public.

Then we can make some rational and potentially difficult choices together.

More in Part 3.

Dynamic Media Reformulation: Part One

OK, so there is this huge amount of information out there on a particular subject (or series of related subjects) and we want to gather it, vet it, analyze it, outline it, read it in brief, read it in detail, share it and promote it. How do we do accomplish this task?

Clearly there are search engines and software programs available today which do a pretty good job of getting most of this accomplished, but how easy is it to use? How effective? How available? 

What we're proposing within the overarching context of Long Island 3.o is a Citizen Media Network (and related integrated Citizen Alert Network) which will not only allow all citizens of Long Island to access information, but to create, in effect, their own manner of understanding the subject matter and maybe more importantly, how others are perceiving the same subject matter and to share and organize along those lines.

For example say the subject is energy which we've discussed in previous posts. How does anyone ascertain what the reliable information and facts are on the subject? Do we rely on the energy suppliers? Do we depend on the regulators? Do we depend on the media? Or ... do we depend on ourselves and our neighbors?

What if we can draw information from any sector and, among other actions, analyze it based on established protocols and algorithms (with the ability for those more advanced users to develop their own and share it with the rest of us mere mortals) and "reformulate it" to answer the questions we pose in a simple and flexible manner? Impossible?

Not impossible even with today's technology with more powerful products designed every day.

We must realize however that, with this new way of communicating someone's "ox is going to be gored." Even as "mega media" goliaths are being formed and re-formed, information has a need to become "unshackled." Traditional media is already struggling to compete with the new information dynamics. To be sure, good journalism and good journalists will always be in demand. But good journalism will not necessarily always be a profitable business. And good journalists may be found everywhere, not just in traditional media outlets.

What we propose as part of our Long Island 3.0 project is to create an outlet for this new media and information dynamic here on Long Island with the Citizens Media Network and Citizens Alert Network under the premise that more accurate information is better and more public participation is better still.

More in Part Two.

Meta-editorialism: Part Five

A logical outgrowth of the Long Island 3.0 concept is a virtual mass communications network.

This would include all of the elements we have previously talked about including LIWIKI, Long Island Metadata Portal, Long Island Alert System(s) and the Long Island Congress (Virtual Community Congress, Long Island Citizen Media Network/Long Island Citizen Alert Network) inclusive) among the major concepts.

What does this mean for the traditional forms of mass communication? As the semantic or knowledge based web advances it obviously allows more choice not only in the type of information available, but how we receive it.

Traditional sources will still maintain a level of respect, but people will expect more from them. As the web 2.0 is beginning to demonstrate, there is an explosion of information and ideas available and the manner in which we interact with one another is becoming more and more sophisticated.

What is needed now is more structure to, what seems to be, chaos. It isn't really chaotic, its just that we have not fully developed the tools or the conceptual approach to use the abundance of information at our disposal in a consistently productive manner.

Long Island 3.0 in all its various current and yet to be developed forms, is an attempt to give some structure to the chaos so that we may use all available information for productive purposes.

A Paradigm Shift in Communications

As we further develop our "pan-Long Island-ist" approach to creating a Unified Theory of Regional Cooperation as contained within the Long Island 3.0 and Long Island Congress concepts, it becomes readily apparent that the manner in which we communicate with one another will undergo a paradigm shift of significant proportions.

It is only a matter of time before the established methods of receiving and analyzing data, whether through traditional media or otherwise, is turned on its head.

Imagine for example, organizations and individuals having access to a coordinated Long Island data reservoir from which they will be able to determine through established and "ad hoc" formulae information pertinent to their individual needs. Imagine further, that organizations can filter and reconstruct information and events to determine accuracy and to, in effect, create their own individualized "daily newspaper," advocacy position paper or any of the thousands of other uses for news and information. Furthermore, this individualized information will be available on a multitude of devices already in use and those not yet imagined.

All of the players in the news and information matrix will be held to a higher standard. Facts and information will be more readily available and constantly vetted for accuracy. How this information is interpreted, opined upon and ultimately put into practice is what will test the resolve and challenge Long Islanders.

Old forms will vanish and new ones will form as this "Organizational Darwinism" works its way through this new century and beyond.

Keep constantly in mind in how many things you yourself have witnessed changes already. The universe is change, life is understanding. Marcus Aurelius

Breaking Down Silos

We've posted multiple times about the need to "speak a common language" and to create an a "dynamic interaction of organizations and information" as part of our Long Island 3.0/Long Island Congress leitmotif.

The following (click for entire article) does a good job of explaining the process in a corporate setting which, of course, closely parallels what we hope to achieve on a larger scale here on Long Island. We may have more "moving parts" but the concepts are still valid.

"Using mapped folksonomy to break corporate silos
A problem in getting people in corporate silos to communicate is that they do not speak the same language even when they are talking about the same thing. Mapped folksonomy can bridge the language gap. The trick is to have people participating in the folksonomy label a good number of the same underlying things so you can see how the labels correlate across participants."

What do we want?

What do Long Islanders want?

Like most folks, I would imagine it is "maximum liberty with minimal governmental intrusion." This is not a plug for the libertarians out there or any other ideology, it is just a simple observation of how most folks live their lives.

The issue then remains what "liberty" and "governmental intrusion" mean to the individual. Is it an intrusion on my liberty not to have health care provided to me for the taxes I pay? Is it an intrusion on my liberty to pay taxes for health care I do not want? The liberty-intrusion formula is a complicated and ever shifting dynamic.

I would say that most Long Islanders want and expect safe neighborhoods, a clean environment, opportunity for good paying jobs, reasonable services at a fair tax rate, you know, all the perennial favorites.

I would also say that most people on Long Island are fair-minded, clear thinking individuals who care a great deal about their communities. The same can be said for the multitude of organizations that abound on Long Island.

Diversity and individuality must be part of the Long Island psyche. Does this mean Long Islanders won't cooperate? Not at all.

What has been missing from the "Long Island equation" is the ability of organizations and individuals to communicate clearly and rationally with one another. Thankfully we live in age where the communication revolution is in full swing. What is needed now is to take a step back, take a deep breath, assess where we are and devise a flexible plan to move us forward as a region while maintaining the individuality and diversity that still make Long Island a place many folks want to call home.

Hopefully our Long Island Congress and Long Island 3.0 concepts will play a small part in the "new" Long Island model.

I think we all know what we want.

Now it is time to get it done.

More required reading ...

"Second is the forging of new partnerships and strategies of governance beyond just the role of government. This is really important to me because it defines the essence of what public policy's all about. Thirty years ago, public policy was largely about training students and doing research that related to the role of government and in making public policies at the state and national level. The needs then were to make the work of government more rational and more analytical. Today, public policy involves a lot more than government. It involves the non-profit sector. It involves the roles of NGOs (non-governmental organizations), international government organizations, foundations. It involves the private sector playing different kinds of roles and engaging in new ways in the public policy arena."

LIWIKI Update

I came across this idea for a secure peer-to-peer WIKI Engine which may be a good model to use as a basis for a Long Island WIKI.

Peer-to peer WIKIs may be integrated into standard WIKIs as well as other web-based and xml based solutions including the Semantic Web.

I'll keep digging. The answer is out there somewhere.