California is experimenting with processes similar to what I have in mind for the Volksrat project, which will attempt to establish
dynamic facilitation based
processes in a more regular, institutionalized way as part of the Consultation Procedure system in Switzerland (Art. 147 of the Swiss Constitution).
More than 400 scientifically randomly sampled Californians gathered in Torrance at the end of June for an experiment in deliberative polling. Jim Fishkin of the Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford University and creator of the Deliberative Poll format, is enthusiastic about the experience:
"I have never seen engagement and excitement like last weekend," said Fishkin. "Californians are willing and able to engage when they trust their government and believe there will be a high level of transparency and accountability, I am hopeful these results change the dialogue in Sacramento and spur real change."
An initial analysis found:
Strong demand for greater transparency and accountability
Clear lack of trust in current system
Strong desire for solutions
Unwillingness to abdicate control to the legislature, but a recognition that the legislature needs tools to solve problems
Specifically, the poll found the following changes in opinion after deliberation:
Creating a formal review process to allow an initiative's proponents to amend an initiative following public input" support rose from 59% to 76% after deliberation.
Publishing the top five contributors for and against each ballot measure in the ballot pamphlet" Support rose from 82% to 91%
Allowing the legislature to amend an initiative that has already passed, subject to a public review and the agreement of the initiative's proponents" Opposition increased from 44% to 51%
Data are still preliminary and full results gathered from the deliberations are forthcoming, tackling aspects such as tax and fiscal reform; initiative process; reforming the way the legislature represents voters and reforming the way programs and services are delivered with more emphasis on local accountability and control.
TechCrunch's Erick Schonfeld on Google Takeout:
"Lost in all the buzz around Google+ is an important new feature rolled out alongside it that makes it way easier to take all your data out of Google. It is called, appropriately enough, Google Takeout. It’s got it’s own separate site and is also part of settings within Google+. In settings, you click on “Data Liberation” and then you are given the option to download all of your profile data, stream data, photos from Picassa, Buzz data, Circles and Contacts."
The Data Liberation Front about itself: "The Data Liberation Front is an engineering team at Google whose singular goal is to make it easier for users to move their data in and out of Google products. We do this because we believe that you should be able to export any data that you create in (or import into) a product. We help and consult other engineering teams within Google on how to "liberate" their products."
Love is the pleasure of giving for another's happiness. Love is loyal, but not exclusive. Taking spoils the pleasure of giving. Love does not need to be reciprocated, but both giving and receiving requires trust. Love never goes away. My thesis is that it is always the trust that goes away (if one isn't careful).
World Radio Switzerland partially dropped the ball by compromising its landmark music selection, adding to much spoken content that did not sufficently engage with the local anglophile community, and probably just simply by not listening to what Mark Butcher was telling them, I have a feeling. So, now Mark left,
started Radio Frontier,
which picks up
where WRS's predecessor WRG-FM left off in 2006.
So far it sounds great! Congratulations Mark! I've switched my listening habits already and now tune in regularely to radiofrontier.ch.
Having said that, this will hopefully get some competition going, encouraging
worldradio.ch
to correct some of its missteps. Overall, this restores the Best Music, News, and More mantra of the WRG days and takes it to new levels, although spread over two channels for the time being. I'll be doing some switching back and forth.
In case you are wondering, I care about radio, and particularly local swiss radio in English, because I'm a big believer in the unifying power of "tuning in together". Radio is still a great medium where society can share the same place and time, and English can do this in Switzerland across the cultural boundaries, plus provide a good grounding for where we are in the world. Radio is also a major aspect of the future collective interactive media that I am imagining, which will be a blend of local Radio with CNN, MTV, LastFM, Flipboard, Showyou, Ustream, Facebook, Twitter and Jabber all rolled into one. I promise you, it will be insanely addictive.
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The "Decentralize" Newsletter
Exchanging ideas for building a
decentralized fabric of society.
Making true democracy work on a larger
scale while decentralizing "everything",
benefiting from local diversity and
global synergies at the same time.
http://tinyletter.com/zumbrunn
World Radio Switzerland partially dropped the ball by compromising its landmark music selection, adding to much spoken content that did not sufficently engage with the local anglophile community, and probably just simply by not listening to what Mark Butcher was telling them, I have a feeling. So, now Mark left,
