May 28, 2004
Hello Daily Kos
I'm seeing the hits spike up a bit, thanks to kos' front page link over at Daily Kos.I've been interested in wiki technology for a while. Aside from my participation over at the dkosopedia, I've written some plugins for movable type to enable wiki integration. In addition to my RevisionPlugin, I've also implemented a kwiki plugin on my weblog that enables me to link to and include wiki nodes inline in my weblog.
I think something like this could be really cool for intra-wiki communication - say that on your weblog, you wanted to refer to a bit of information on another wiki. With a plugin like mine, but enhanced, you could type in one command and have the content of the wiki node - hosted across the weblog - quoted directly on your weblog.
For an example, one line quotes the following wiki node from my own wiki:
Go straight to the ProofList
A Proof is an assertion based off of factual statements and/or accepted subproofs. A Proof by itself might appear to be a short allegation, but if one disagrees, one can drill down to examine the premises behind it. If the reader finds a premise faulty, they can contest it by including their reasoning, and can then declare all parent proofs equally contested.
It's clear that many subproofs cannot be proven, but merely argued to a point where its premises for failure are shown to be unreasonable.
We can consider an proof "socially proven" if its supporting premises are a combination of proven facts and strongly-argued premises that are not contestable except through absurd arguments.
This can constitute an interesting DebateTool
The "Social Proof" I describe above is another tool that could be used in the dkosopedia - breaking a political argument down into component parts, each of which can be proven through political education and logic. If the community challenges a piece of the proof, then the parent proof would be challenged. As an example, here is the conclusion of one such Social Proof, NaderShouldNotRun:
NaderCannotWinDemocratically proves that Nader cannot win without undermining DemocraticIntent; i.e. cannot win democratically.
ProtectingDemocraticIntent proves that a ThirdPartySpoiler that cannot win democratically undermines DemocraticIntent.
NaderIsAThirdPartySpoiler proves that Ralph Nader fits the definition of a ThirdPartySpoiler. This proof is contested.
DemocraticIntentMustBeProtected proves that DemocraticIntent must not be undermined.
Therefore, since Nader's run undermines DemocraticIntent, Nader should not run for President.
Parent: ProofList
Drill down to examine its subproofs. The "proof" (really just an argument offered for discussion) is currently contested.
Awesome! yay!
We are going to be building plugins along these lines when we have a spare moment for CivicSpace (drupal based). Something else we want to do is:
Open Secrets $$ info + iFrame + overlib = mouse over over a candidates name and it pops up where their money is coming from in a box.
There are a lot of micro content servicy things that are real easy to implement that I hope folks start doing soon.
-Zack
P.S. if you got ideas / questions just AIM me: uberzacker .
Posted by: Zack Rosen at May 28, 2004 01:18 PM