Alan Gutierrez

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.