Tribes
Cyber Aided Democracy
[UNDER CONSTRUCTION]
Overview: We live in a dramatically different age than the one our form of democracy was born in, and I think we would all be for the better if we come to grips with that fact. With computers and the internet, we can make people's voices directly heard in the process that governs them. To this end, why not create a webpage + app that allows individuals to tell their personal government representatives how they would like them to vote?
Structure of Webpage:
The webpage will revolve around what I will call topics of interest (TOI's), and comments about TOI's.
Example Topics of Interest:
- Upcoming issues to be voted on by the house/senate. These should be able to be mined from the US Senate Calendar webpage and the US House of Representatives webpage.
- Upcoming elections.
Examples of Commenting:
- Voting as to whether you are for/against/neutral regarding a TOI.
- Providing your personal input on a TOI.
Problem: How are TOI's generated?
Solution: Allow anyone to post a TOI. To try to gain contributors, one TOI can be linked to another TOI so that users can browse the TOI's linked to something they are already interested in. We want the impact of TOI's to scale with the number of contributors it has, so the amount of points that can be awarded with it should scale with the number of contributors. Maybe have this again be on a scale of 1-10, where TOI's are worth max(1, log(number of contributors) )
Problem: How do you prevent people from making uninformed decisions?
Solution: Only allow users to be able to cast their vote on an issue once they've earned enough points (say 10 points) through that issue. The idea is that we want as much input from as many different angles, so this should be an easy goal to reach.
How to earn Points (in progress):
- Provide a comment (1 point)
- Provide a comment with a reliable information link (3 points)
- Vote on a comment with thumbs up, thumbs down, or neutral (2 points)
- Have a comment upvoted (2 points per upvote)
Problem: How to keep people interested?
Solution: Make a game out of it. Have leader boards that effectively reset with 2 year election process so people must stay active to stay on top. We also want to keep diligent users on board, so maybe have their total lifetime point accumulation affect their standing. Have a bonus of X points for each new season based on their lifetime point accumulation.
Factors that Should Effect X:
- How many projected points for the season (X should not be more than 20% of this)
- Lifetime points should be labeled by season; only have the last 2 seasons count (4 years worth of voting).
Problem: How to get people to band together in their voting strategies?
Solution: Make a tribal aspect to the game; allow people to link up to form tribes in order to gain additional points per vote (same idea as in Clash of Clans). This will create a pressure to form tribes comprised of people with similar voting patterns; when one wins, they all win. Allow people to join up to Y(points) number of tribes.
Factors that Should Effect Y:
- Personal activity in the previous two weeks (weighted the most)
- Personal activity in the previous six months
- Overall lifetime personal activity (weighted the least)
Problem: How should the tribe dynamic work?
Solution:
- Tribe leaders can pick Z(tribal points) issues per 3 month period as tribal issues.
- When tribal issues win, those members get additional points. There are no negative effects from losing a vote.
Problem: How should the point system work?
Solution: There should be point categories for: 3 month period, 2 year period, and lifetime.
3 Month Points:
- Tribal votes won
- Personal comments (unbounded)
- Personal votes cast where issue won (2 bonus points per)
- Rank of tribes which they are a member of
2 Year Period:
- Personal votes cast (10 points per)
- Rank of tribes belonged to over the season (keep track of all tribes belonged to per user)
-
Lifetime:
- All points accumulated.
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