A Book & Concepts Discussion SeriesPaul Schumann – CenTexWFSTaylor Willingham – Texas ForumsJon Lebkowsky – Extreme Democracy

Paul Schumann

Futurist Innovation Consultant

Extreme Democracy Discussion Series Explore the principles &

technologies Explore how they are

affecting our Social change efforts Democracy Upcoming election

Explore the future of democracy

To learn from each other

How? The book as a guide 12 online interactive discussions Extreme Democracy blog (

www.extremedemocracy.com) Networking (

www.attendr.com/extremedemocracy) Documents Texas Forums blog (

http://texasforums.wordpress.com) Survey (

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=wSd6z99tHdPwJH_2fISs9Kvg_3d_3d)

Networks

Power Laws, Weblogs and Inequality: Clay Shirky

Building on Experience: Mitch Ratcliffe

Discussion

“Diversity plus freedom of creates inequality, and the greater the diversity, the more extreme the inequality.” Clay Shirky

Power Laws N = c/n N= number of links N= rank of blog c = constant What factors

control the rank? When is the power

law important? When is the power

law not important?

Application of Networks

Same DifferentValues

Different

Same

Information

Networks & Society

Traditional democracy does not scale well from small to large groups.

Networked society is not constrained by geography.

Extreme democracy takes place in real time.

Failure to Scale “Failure to scale is evident when people

feel disenfranchised, when they no longer have sufficient contact or interaction with their government to see their wishes reflected in its actions.” Mitch Ratcliffe

Politicians express this disconnect by seeing only their own well being, sacrificing the common good for their own benefit at the expense of others.”

Rule of 150

What is it? How is it important?

Role of Journalism “Mohandas K. Gandhi said, ‘One cannot unite a

community without newspaper or journal of some kind.’ These separate trends of individual expression through blogs, an egalitarian journalism, and organized online activism are waking unrecognized communities of interest that will confound a political system designed for representation geographic constituencies. A concerted effort by the peoples of the world can transform the perception of the means and ends of government. Meanwhile, politics, the art of participation in social decision-making and a practice closely related to being ‘polite,’ which means to achieve refinement, continues to function essentially as it has throughout history, through debate and compromise among people.” Mitch Ratcliffe

Extreme Democracy “An answer to the continuing debate about political

process will be based the integration of many, though not all, threads in recent human development into an expanded concept of the individual as the basis for the concept of sovereignty and the redefinition of the role of government institutions in order to revitalize political processes. A political philosophy must incorporate more than the experience of participation. An analysis of power, definite ideas about the role of the citizen and the government, and the principles society will embrace about the value of the individual are required, as well. Extreme democracy seeks to provide these foundational ideas to place the thrill of emergent organizations into socio-political context.” Mitch Ratcliffe

Next Week Politics and Networks

It’s the Conversation Stupid!: The Link between Social Action & Political Choice, by Valdis Krebs

Social Network Dynamics & Participatory Politics, by Ross Mayfield

Broadcasting & the Voter’s Paradox, by David Weinberger

Sociable Technology & Democracy, by danah boyd

The Calculus of Political Power, by Mitch Ratcliffe