[Wikimediaau-l] [Osia-discuss] Open source wiki project - expressons of interest sought

Sun May 25 23:41:24 UTC 2008

On Sun, May 25, 2008 at 9:07 AM, Ken Parish <Ken.Parish at cdu.edu.au> wrote:
> We are calling for expressions of interest in undertaking a project
> involving installing and configuring/customising an open source wiki
> (probably Mediawiki which runs Wikipedia, but we are open to better
> suggestions).
> The project is for creation of a wiki (and probably a range of sub-wikis)
> which are intended to solicit input from the public on a range of public
> policy matters. The project has received informal support from a senior
> minister but no funding from the federal government is anticipated.  Members
> of the public will post policy/budgetary reform proposals and anyone who
> wishes to do so will work collaboratively with them on the wiki to develop
> the policy to a stage where it is suitable to be formally submitted to the
> relevant Minister/Department for consideration.
> Particular features we need/want include:
>
> 1.      Front page appearance as much like Wikipedia as is consistent with
> other requirements;
>
> 2.      Branded with Lateral Economics logo (to be supplied);
>
> 3.      Front page to contain explanation of the purpose and general
> functionality of the wiki/s;
>
> 4.      Left sidebar to contain links to any other wikis – which will
> initially function as catchalls for ideas that are not central to the
> purpose of the first wiki – as well as links to useful policy research
> resources (links list to be supplied).  Alternatively we can create the
> sidebar links if you can show us how and it's relatively straightforward and
> doesn't require any programming knowledge.  This applies to any of these
> configuration requests.  Because this is a community initiative without any
> form of funding and with no short-term prospect of generating income, we
> need to keep cost as moderate as reasonably possible while still achieving a
> stable, functional site in a fairly short time frame.  Both Nicholas and
> myself are very experienced at running blogs and similar sites and are used
> to undertaking fairly extensive non-expert configuration tasks.  Though the
> principal objective at this stage is not to make money, Nicholas is the CEO
> of Lateral Economics and believes that the provision of wikis and consulting
> services attached to them could be built into a substantial revenue stream
> for Lateral Economics and those working on the project will be invited to
> participate in that work on favourable terms.
>
> 5.      The wiki/s will have a fairly extensive category system, with
> categories for each federal government department/agency and probably also
> categorised by function/government activity.  See
> http://www.gold.gov.au/quicklinks.php?agency .  Desirably a links list to
> the categories will be displayed down a right sidebar (or down the left one
> if there is no easy way to create a right sidebar).
>
> 6.      There needs to be full unrestricted public access for reading all
> documents posted on the wiki/s, but password only access for those who wish
> to participate by creating a page for a policy proposal or editing an
> existing proposal. Registered users will all have permissions both to create
> and edit existing documents (but can be suspended or delisted by a moderator
> for persistent misbehaviour). Password access may require creation of
> additional functionality for the basic mediawiki installation (or use of  an
> existing plugin/extension if available).  Initial access would be by email
> to a valid email address nominated by the prospective user which would
> generate a once-only password to enable access.  This is similar to Google
> Docs and other such systems and helps ensure that suspended or deleted users
> cannot instantly re-register as someone else (although a determined troll
> would be able to do so simply creating a new webmail address).
>
> 7.      Creation of new documents/policy proposals needs to be as easy as
> possible for registered users (some of whom will not be very technologically
> literate), preferably by clicking a button (as at Wikinews - see this page
> http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:Newsroom and scroll down).  Indeed the
> working area of our wiki/s would desirably be configured quite like this,
> with process categories for "policy proposals under development" and "policy
> proposals finalised for submission to government" containing lists of links
> to each of the documents in these categories. More process categories than
> this might ultimately need to be created e.g. "policy proposals under
> moderation".  Moreover, once we get lots of proposals under development, we
> may need to display this list with proposals also divided by department or
> agency.   Desirably, filling in the title bar for a new document and
> clicking the "create page" button should automatically add a link to that
> page to the "policy proposals under development" section immediately above
> or below (we would probably want the "create document" button at the top of
> the page with the lists of documents under development below that.
>
> 8.      We also want (if possible) new documents to open up when created in
> a pre-designated but simple template format.  The template document would
> contain various headings and other information/instructions to tell users
> what matters need to be addressed and developed to get the proposal in a
> suitable form for submission to government.  We understand that this
> template capacity may also involve adding a plugin or extension to basic
> Mediawiki functionality.  At the outset we are keen to use plugins to add
> whatever functionality we need, and will probably limit work on
> functionality to that, however as the project progresses, it may make sense
> to build our own features if necessary.
>
> 9.      Desirably we would like to have a degree of moderator-only control
> over some functions.  Moderators should have the capacity to "lock" a
> document for a period to restrain an "edit war" should one break out.  Again
> it is possible that some aspects of differential user/moderator
> administrator permissions may require modification of basic Mediawiki
> functionality.
>
> If you are interested in working on this project, please reply to
> nicholas at gruen.com.au .
>
> Regards
>
> Ken Parish

Interesting idea.
Some information about the proposers intent regarding who can do what
with the information might make it easier for people to see if it is
somewhere that they might like to volunteer their time?

Is lateral economics a company/private interest?
Who is we? Is someone getting paid on the project?
If so what are they getting paid for?

How are the moderators determined are they community chosen or is this
a company looking to crowd source ideas?
Who decides if the project is useful/continues?
Who decides what is an edit war or not useful content?

Many wikis like wikiversity are gradually putting in custom tweaks to
suit their specific content and use.
It happens over time as people are able.
There are a lot of tweak requests in the proposal for a project which
is intended to be voluntary?

What is the intended licence on the project? Wikiversity is GDFL.
Can contributors use the policy suggestions they submit independently?
Can contributors use any of the material in the wiki independently?

Places where this kind of material has been collected previously
http://campaigns.wikia.com/wiki/Campaigns_Wikia - contains issues
information but there was competition between people who wanted to
debate issues and people who wanted to represent elections. the
elections people won so the issues data is a bit buried.
http://campaigns.wikia.com/wiki/Digital_Rights

Somewhere like wikiversity might be a good place to work on an issue
like education policy because the community there has momentum.
http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Portal:Education The wikiversity uses a
You might find that the policy idea is a facet or aspect of wider projects.
This might make it easer for people to hook into existing work on that
subject in situ or context with other work on the topic rather than in
a separate location.

I can see why it might be interesting to have a site which just does
policy but think that initially sticking close to existing communities
might help things to start off more quickly.

Janet