<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Joe Corneli</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:holtzermann17@gmail.com">holtzermann17@gmail.com</a>></span><br>
Date: Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 5:49 PM<br>Subject: [Commoning] Fwd: guidelines for structure<br>To: <a href="mailto:commoning@lists.wissensallmende.de">commoning@lists.wissensallmende.de</a><br><br><br>Hi all:<br>
<br>
here is a "strawman" proposal I sent to P2PU. (I'm not sure why they<br>
call all proposals "strawmen".) It may be of more general appeal when<br>
thinking about how to set up peer-production systems.<br>
<br>
Joe<br>
<br>
<br>
---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>
From: Joe Corneli <<a href="mailto:holtzermann17@gmail.com">holtzermann17@gmail.com</a>><br>
Date: Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 11:29 AM<br>
Subject: guidelines for structure<br>
To: P2PU Community <<a href="mailto:p2pu-community@googlegroups.com">p2pu-community@googlegroups.com</a>><br>
<br>
<br>
The following begins to approach a full proposal on<br>
"guidelines for structure" (this is my first complete<br>
revision: it seems ready for public discussion in the<br>
P2PU's standard "strawman" framework). It draws on<br>
Pippa's posting in this thread about P2PU's priorities:<br>
<a href="http://groups.google.com/group/p2pu-community/browse_thread/thread/d1462b43244ecbb8" target="_blank">http://groups.google.com/group/p2pu-community/browse_thread/thread/d1462b43244ecbb8</a><br>
<br>
There's other material from my ongoing discussion with<br>
Charlie about "paragogy" I'd like to bring into this in<br>
the future; we'll save such expansions for later.<br>
<br>
IDENTIFYING BOTH COMPLETION GOALS AND SUCCESS/FAILURE<br>
CRITERIA SHOULD BE PART OF THE COURSE AND PROJECT<br>
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS.<br>
<br>
This should include "organizational efforts, across the<br>
board". Even if that sounds obvious, it's not yet clear<br>
how best to implement. P2PU should be emphasising<br>
community involvement "to 105%" -- and clearly identified<br>
critera for success and failure are the minimum data<br>
needed to make community involvement work. As an example,<br>
P2PU's roadmap should include high-level goals, even as<br>
these are subject to discussion. Folding courses and<br>
projects together under one heading implies that P2PU<br>
should dare to "eat its own dogfood" -- and it provides<br>
core community members the opportunity to lead by example.<br>
<br>
IDENTIFYING COMPLETION CRITERIA SHOULD NOT ONLY BE A<br>
SOCIAL NORM, BUT SOMETHING CLEARLY IDENTIFIED WITHIN THE<br>
TECHNOLOGY.<br>
<br>
Prior art in this area lies in the field of "bug<br>
reporting". Conceptualizing P2PU "tasks" as tickets<br>
within a well-thought-through issue tracking system would<br>
give both learners and organizational leaders a powerful<br>
tool for defining their workflow.<br>
<br>
A good first task would be to make a map of system objects<br>
and the way they relate to one another, so we can know how<br>
the technology itself serves the organisation's high-level<br>
goals. As an example: here is work-in-progress by me,<br>
describing the elements of the Planetary System:<br>
<a href="http://trac.mathweb.org/planetary/export/HEAD/pmredux-extras/general-metadata.pdf" target="_blank">http://trac.mathweb.org/planetary/export/HEAD/pmredux-extras/general-metadata.pdf</a><br>
(More progress to be made there this week: I'd be happy to<br>
help with a similar document for P2PU once this one is<br>
done.)<br>
<br>
THE SEMANTICS AROUND "GROUPS" NEEDS REFINING.<br>
<br>
This is a key point, since groups are the new "fundamental<br>
object" for P2PU, and have to accommodate both course-like<br>
and more informal book-club-like interactions.<br>
<br>
As an example of an outstanding issue: assuming that<br>
members come and go, any agreements the group makes may<br>
only apply to a certain cohort at a certain period of<br>
time. What happens if someone wants to repurpose a group?<br>
Are they forkable, or what? Is there a plan to keep track<br>
of the potentially huge number of groups that may<br>
accumulate over time? These are just a few of the many<br>
things that should be spelled out in detail ASAP.<br>
<br>
PARTICIPANTS SHOULD ALSO CLEARLY DEFINE THEIR PERSONAL<br>
GOALS (SUCCESS/FAILURE CRITERA) AND SHARE THAT WITH THEIR<br>
PEERS.<br>
<br>
It would not be too much to ask to have goals visible on user<br>
homepages, presumably with ways to opt-OUT, so for example<br>
the goal might only be visible to members of a certain<br>
group/course, or cohort.<br>
<br>
All major "accountability" issues can be handled post hoc,<br>
through transparent record-keeping on learner profiles.<br>
This will address most of the concerns brought up by<br>
e.g. JWeb.<br>
<br>
THE IDEA THAT GOVERNANCE IS "OPEN" BECAUSE ANYONE CAN<br>
RAISE THEIR OPINION IN THE MAILING LIST HAS SHORTCOMINGS.<br>
<br>
There is a huge difference between London's Speaker's<br>
Corner, and the UK's Lords and Commons.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speakers%27_Corner" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speakers'_Corner</a><br>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lords" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lords</a><br>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Commons_of_the_United_Kingdom" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Commons_of_the_United_Kingdom</a><br>
<br>
In today's popular usage, "peers" and "commoners" are the<br>
same, but we would do well to reflect on the historical<br>
usage and learn from it.<br>
<br>
Perhaps the "community list" can be replaced by more<br>
empowering functionality within the new site,<br>
e.g. <a href="http://new.p2pu.org/en-US/courses/p2pu-the-course/" target="_blank">http://new.p2pu.org/en-US/courses/p2pu-the-course/</a><br>
(It needs significant changes to be useful for<br>
"governance" matters.)<br>
<br>
ONCE AGAIN: CORE COMMUNITY MEMBERS SHOULD<br>
LEAD BY EXAMPLE!<br>
<br>
Anything that P2PU expects of "participants" it should<br>
expect of "core community members". Transparency,<br>
openness, and involvement should all have concrete<br>
meanings in the technology used by P2PU. The are issues<br>
that need to championed by organisational leadership if<br>
anything is going to be made of them in a "grassroots"<br>
fashion.<br>
<br>
This doesn't mean that all conversations should happen in<br>
public (that wouldn't be a "good example" for P2P<br>
communications), but it does mean that leadership needs a<br>
degree of "accountability" (in proportion to their power).<br>
<br>
At the same time, *complaints* (bug reports) should not be<br>
duplicated unduly, but managed in a coherent fashion.<br>
Accountability does not mean that leadership needs to<br>
respond and fix every issue, on demand.<br>
<br>
Rather, it means a responsibility to keep the space in<br>
good condition for work by the community as a whole. This<br>
is happening presently with a fair amount of informality,<br>
and some opaqueness that would go away if the guidelines<br>
suggested here about clearly defining "success/failure<br>
criteria" were followed throughout the project.<br>
<br>
Recommended reading:<br>
<a href="http://piratepad.net/bug-report-1" target="_blank">http://piratepad.net/bug-report-1</a><br>
<a href="http://piratepad.net/bug-report-2" target="_blank">http://piratepad.net/bug-report-2</a><br>
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