Alan Gutierrez

Tomorrow morning in the early morning, I’m off to Santa Fe, New Mexico for a public meeting of the EAC, a discussion of ballot design and polling place signage. Most notably there will be discussion of the recent Orleans Parish election and the effect of Katrina on the adminstration of the election. Mark Folse has provided me with some local opinion to consider while I consider the research presentted at this confab.

Next week on Tuesday, I’m going to addend a meeting of the Federal Election Assistance Commission as a reperesentative of Think New Orleans, to discuss voter information systems. Most of my time this week has been spent in preparation for this meeting, so I’ve not been as active in my civic work for New Orleans.

I’ve broached the subject of the Think New Orleans Project and now I appeal to you for your help.

Vince Keenan requested that I write a project proposal so he could obtain the approval of his Board of Directors. I created a page on the Think New Orleans Wiki. I added a few sentances. I showed it to Vince.

Vince then went an pretty much wrote the proposal for me. This explains the gross exaggeration of my abilities, and more laughably my standing among the New Orleans bloggers. Although I have a great many delusions, grandeur is not among them.

Like the resume support group, however, it is easier to present yourself, or the organization that has consumed your self, if you have the tempered input of your betters.

To the degree which you have been a particpant in Think New Orleans, and by you I mean you Ed, Ric, Nancy, Maitri, Ric, George, Bart, Scott, Becky, Morwen, Christian, Jimmy, Mark, Mikkel and you who I’ll not name, I ask you, as my better, to read, review, ammend and edit, the Think New Orleans Project, put forward by Vince.

Vince’s language reflects how a project like Think New Orleans fits within the baliwick of Publius, an organization that researches democracy as it pertains to the Internet.

This is where I find Think New Orleans, attending town hall meetings, creating audio transcriptions of town hall meetings for distribution on the web, creating web publishing workshops for civic organizations, creating workshops for web based calendaring and project management software, developing audio town halls (pending) for distrubiton on the web.

Think New Orleans is not pursuing the web as a media network, rather as the information system that DARPA intended. Although, people that are working with me are media oriented, the difference in focus is apparent.

Thus, as you help me sort this out, remember that Publius is about answering questions through active participation. It’s important to stay within the mission of the supporting entity.

The fallout from the 1900 Galviston hurricane created a new form of city government. Publius is curious about the effect of the Internet on governance in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

As we rebuild New Orleans, we will answer for ourselves, questions about citzen oversight of government, neighborhood planning, and the democratization of data, and the role of the Internet in the governance of a city that is still pedestrian and close-knit.

Publius would have us take note of the questions raised, and the answers given, so our experience can serve as a model.

Think New Orleans will not become acedemic. No, sir. I’d have to drop out.

However, I’ve spoken with a local acedemic about developing metrics for Think New Orleans. Black box testing that is agnostic about the Internet nature of this project, so we can measure the effectiveness of our contribution against unwired means of community organization.

If it is more effective to turn the digital recorders off, so be it. I have strong convictions about the importance of print. Not every flight of Internet fancy is good for community. The Publius influence will keep us honest.

Publius would have us work with print and offline meetings for the sake of contrast to the web and online meetings.

No Internet for Internet’s sake. Only where it serves democracy.

Let’s unpunch this post. Go read the Think New Orleans Project propsoal please, and have at it.

I need more words, more sense, and more New Orleans. It’s got to be something that you’ll be willing to help me with, so write down bits and pieces of what that would be.

Do try to take it lightly, though. It’s not a constitution, simply a project proposal. I’d merely like to share this opportunity to define Think New Orleans. I’d like to share the burden as well.

I need your help to write a document that is very dear to Think New Orleans. I will wrte about that in a subsequent post. Please read.

Think New Orleans is vying to become a project of the Detroit, Michigan based non-profit Publius. I have worked with Publius to research and implement online voter information databases.

Vince Keenan has offered to sponsor Think New Orleans as the Think New Orleans Project of Publius. He asked me for a project proposal, necessary to show his Board of Directors. He asked me for this some time ago.

Vince Keenan does not pass the litmus test I established at the crawfish boil, however.

He does not work here, in New Orleans.

Therefore, I offer to you, my reasons for working on my New Orleans, Louisiana information technology project under the aegis of a Detroit, Michigan based non-profit.

They go beyond the fact that Vince will cut me slack on this project. They go beyond the fact that Vince has already cut me slack on the Publius projects that I sent into disarray when I upped sticks for New Orleans at the very end of December.

The reasons are three.

First, Publius has never been about the advocacy of a specific technology, but rather about the study of the practical applications of technology. An inquiry into what works. Words of caution from Vince Keenan have spoiled my appettie for buzz words and made me far more effective in my communiation with people who are only interested in rebuilding and organization.

Second, Publius has implemented voter information databases for the State of Michigan. This sort of software project is what I consider to be a civic information system.

Many Internet based community groups are based on the concept of meritocracy. The value of an individual’s voice is based on the value of their contributions and accomplishments.

In a democracy, however, the value of an individual’s voice is based on their citizenship. You cannot simply ignore a person in a democracy. You cannot kick your neighbor out of your neighborhood they way you can kick someone out of a chat room. A person who is considered a troll in a meritocracy is yet another special interest in a democracy.

Meritocracy is exclusive, democracy is inclusive.

Democracy is hard.

Civic information systems, like a voter information database, need to be widely accessible, and inclusive, rather than exclusive. Publius has experience in reaching users who would not otherwise be near a computer, and Vince Keenan understands how the Internet is used when the elite are not looking.

It’s not about conversation. It’s about lookup.

Finally, Publius has experience with digital divide initiatives. Through a project called Think Detroit, they have refurbished corporate desktops into Internet accessible computers for elementary school students, in a project where students build their own computer from component parts.

Once again, this is the sort of experience with the realities of extending the Internet. It is not a matter of if you build it, they will come. It takes a much more concerted effort to reach a user base that is defined by geography, not means.

Thus, I feel that Publius has practical experience. Publius has experience in reaching the widest possible user base in the run up to elections. Publius has experience in developing educational programs to bring communities online. Publius has experience in understanding how the Internet is applied in elections and decision making in a democracy.

It is for this experience that I am eager to continue to work with Vince Keenan and Publius, and to bring this experience to my modest efforts in New Orleans.

Got off the phone with Vince Keenan of Publius. We argued. That’s what we tend to do. Vince is socratic. It drives me nuts.

After a couple hours of mayhem, I sum up the Think New Orleans mission.

The mission of Think New Orleans is to bridge the social networks New Orleans with the syndicated social networks of the contemporary web, by creating an incentive for New Orleanians to post to syndicated and indexed forums that can better disseminate their information through web applications that search and categorize syndicated content.

“I like ideas that have to crawl around for a little while, so they can toughen their bellies before they stand.” said Vince.