[Ci4cg-announce] A framework for working with and towards civic intelligence [1st installment]
Doug Schuler
douglas at publicsphereproject.org
Wed Aug 10 19:22:46 PDT 2016
Sorry to be just getting back to you Dmitry.
I found myself responding to lots of interesting, but long, emails, with similarly long emails. And I fear this may be one of them!
We may have some disagreements on broad philosophy or perspective but hopefully we can still able to collaborate in some way.
The first is that I don't see the need to boil all mental processes down to two things (memory and pattern matching). My feeling is that there are LOTS of aspects that go into *intelligence* and that I'd like to avoid what I consider a trap to try to over-simplify. I have a long list that I'll send out... it seems to me that all of these processes are somewhat different — and are likely to add some useful ideas to the mix.
I agree that we don't have our history of other important information readily available. I do agree that this is a problem and I'd love to hear ideas as to how to make this come together. The motivational principles are on our web site (ci4cg.org) and there are other documents out there somewhere — and I'll try to make everything more accessible. (I'm happy to try your approach — my belief is that no one way will solve this problem...)
My basic premise is that while quicker access to information would probably be useful it's really only a part of the issue.
The main problem (I see) is that we need to develop better ways to promote collective (and civic) intelligence because of the urgency of the world's problems and the horrific consequences of not dealing with them. Individual intelligence is fine but how we work together is the biggest hurdle.
I'm interested in the civil society side of the equation, the people who are interested in improving the situation, whose primary motivation for doing things is not because they are being paid or forced to do something. But how civil society works with other sectors is incredibly important.
This means working with a large group of people who are large un-organzied. To me one of the key issues is how can we understand how to loosely coordinate our actions. This means not focusing on one way, one portal, one etc. etc. I have a long list of possible coordinating approaches and it would be interesting to see how they might work out in our microcosm.
Thanks Dmitry!
— Doug
> On Aug 2, 2016, at 8:09 PM, Dmitry Sokolov <dmitry.v.sokolov at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Doug,
>
> sorry for the long email.
>
> To my feeling many if not all mental processes ("learning, perceiving (bringing in information), decision-making, etc.") are based on memory and pattern matching. Quick access to particular knowledge / patterns defines our mental and cognitive efficiency. I believe, same should be though in regards to the collective memory, including historical, as a part of collective intelligence / decision making process. Quicker access to stored information and facts defines our factual (as compared to imaginary) foundation for intelligence.
>
> Talking about current status of our collective intelligence, I was not able to find a good reference page on Civic Intelligence as compared to other forms of Intelligence, Collective, for example. That should mean to me that Collective Memory either doesn't exist, or hard to find / discover. Knowledge cannot be reused (in intelligence, or other processes) if not found or discovered in time. If knowledge is not reused, it has to be "reinvented", on the expense of either time and other resources, or quality of intelligence / decision making (and/or other mental processes).
>
> What does it mean practically? I would love to participate in CI4CG to my full capacity but I have no access to the history of our project, it's conceptual network, participants and their areas of expertise. From the researcher point of view, I see no systematic and systemic repository of the CI4CG data / knowledge / information including best practices, for example. Based on my observations, should I come to the idea that the agent's activities, including intelligence, are thought to be done in non-systematic and non-systemic way too?
>
> To reframe the problem: long learning process, lack of a "single entry point" for all inquiries, queries and requests for particular information should indicate absence, or highly inefficient collective memory. Inefficient memory defines inefficient intelligence being a part of it we are not able to exclude.
>
> I believe, if CI4CG community is interested in efficient intelligence, it should address the following questions:
> - theoretical vs. experimentally confirmed "access rates" to particular knowledge, as measured in Topics, or Issues / minute.
> - applicability of different data, knowledge and communication structures and protocols to the most characteristic activities CI4CG is trying to deal with, both theoretical and experimentally confirmed.
> - classification of applicability of CI4CG methods and techniques to the variety of problems, considered vs resolved, or solved.
>
> Your thoughts?
>
> Thank you,
> Dimitri
>
> On 03/08/16 13:12, Doug Schuler wrote:
>> Dmitry,
>>
>> To me, the "integrated set of processes that enable an agent to act in ways that are appropriate to the agent's goals and to the environment" should at least include learning, perceiving (bringing in information), decision-making, etc.
>>
>> In human (and, especially, civic) intelligence, I'd include non-symbol manipulation approaches such as sense of justice, emotions, creativity, empathy, etc.
>>
>> To me everything you suggest about looking at memory seems relevant.
>>
>> I also think about historical memory as talked about in our "Memory and Responsibility" pattern (http://www.publicsphereproject.org/content/memory-and-responsibility <http://www.publicsphereproject.org/content/memory-and-responsibility>)
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> On Aug 1, 2016, at 9:58 PM, Dmitry Sokolov <dmitry.v.sokolov at gmail.com <mailto:dmitry.v.sokolov at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Doug,
>>>
>>> would you related intelligence to decision making?
>>> I am not sure whether acting without thinking / reflection / decision making can be thought intelligent.
>>>
>>> Regarding storage media "in human memories, libraries, online, or in tools, systems, or artifacts.", would you suggest comparative analysis of those techniques (and possibly "collective memory" platforms?) by accuracy / fidelity / access time as a function of time? I am interested in real-time decision making where timely access to particular knowledge is critical.
>>>
>>> Thank you,
>>> Dimitri
>>>
>>> On 02/08/16 13:49, Doug Schuler wrote:
>>>> Todd — and everybody else (hopefully of interest)
>>>>
>>>> This is a follow-on to the conversation that Todd's note launched. This note is more like the first version of a summary of the findings and assertions so far in relation to my exploration of civic intelligence. As you know I'm trying to develop civic intelligence as a focus for research, activism, education, policy-making, ... , etc. You also of course know that it's not a term that's in common use and I'd like to change that. I would love your comments on any and all aspects of this.
>>>>
>>>> I've been packing the idea of civic intelligence in many ways for quite awhile. Sometimes it's used as a part of social inquiry, sometimes it's meant to be aspirational, and sometimes it's intended to be used as a goal or guideline — and other uses are possible (ranking schools for example). These varieties of uses could be a source of confusion (in either the critique or the exploration itself). My belief and hope is that the diverse perspectives are in fact coherent, although that might not be apparent without the background logic.
>>>>
>>>> I'd like to think that a graphic depiction can be developed that showed the main elements and regions of the overall exploration. Ideally this would help maintain coherence, reduce misinterpretation, and promote additional work in this area. (And, of course, critique could help shape this effort into more productive ways.)
>>>>
>>>> I'm trying to explore a lot of things simultaneously — including the fact that exploring and practicing civic intelligence seems to be empowering to students, although this isn't addressed in this note.
>>>>
>>>> The following is an attempt to describe one region of the framework which is largely positivistic and should have the necessary rigor and logic to be palatable to social scientists of various types. I consider that everything is subject to modification.
>>>>
>>>> (1) We start with a (working) definition of Intelligence. This seems to be keeping with standard views of intelligence while containing elements that lend themselves to characterization and analysis. I wanted to focus on the potential richness of the concept (of intelligence) rather that be limited to a minimal, quantified and somewhat non-useful construct that some social scientists seem to prefer.
>>>>
>>>> Definition of Intelligence: An integrated set of processes that enable an agent to act in ways that are appropriate to the agent's goals and to the environment in which it exists / acts — particularly areas that present actual or potential challenges or opportunities.
>>>>
>>>> An "agent" can be one or more people, any group, animal, computer program, hybrids of the above, and others as well as any artifacts, natural or otherwise, or system of artifacts that are useful in pursuit of the goals.
>>>>
>>>> Collective intelligence is a major type of intelligence that is distinguished from individual intelligence (e.g. that of a single person).
>>>>
>>>> Intelligence can also be distributed over space and time. And the results of the diverse processes can be stored in many ways—in human memories, libraries, online, or in tools, systems, or artifacts.
>>>>
>>>> (2) The various components / elements of the definition suggest ways to characterize, analyze, categorize various approaches.
>>>>
>>>> Composition of the "agent"
>>>> Environment in which the intelligence operates (Intelligence is context dependent)
>>>> Processes that are used and how they are integrated (i.e. the structure)
>>>> Goals, values, and norm
>>>> The products of the processes
>>>>
>>>> The claim that I'm making is that it is probably possible to identify different versions of intelligence by the goals, types of actions, and composition and coordination of the agent. This might not be 100% certain but it could be useful.
>>>>
>>>> [TO BE CONTINUED]
>>>>
>>>> Douglas Schuler
>>>> douglas at publicsphereproject.org <mailto:douglas at publicsphereproject.org>
>>>> Twitter: @doug_schuler
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> Public Sphere Project
>>>> http://www.publicsphereproject.org/ <http://www.publicsphereproject.org/>
>>>> Mailing list ~ Collective Intelligence for the Common Good
>>>> http://scn9.scn.org/mailman/listinfo/ci <http://scn9.scn.org/mailman/listinfo/ci>4cg-announce
>>>>
>>>> Creating the World Citizen Parliament
>>>> http://interactions.acm.org/archive/view/may-june-2013/creating-the-world-citizen-parliament <http://interactions.acm.org/archive/view/may-june-2013/creating-the-world-citizen-parliament>
>>>>
>>>> Liberating Voices! A Pattern Language for Communication Revolution (project)
>>>> http://www.publicsphereproject.org/patterns/lv <http://www.publicsphereproject.org/patterns/>
>>>>
>>>> Liberating Voices! A Pattern Language for Communication Revolution (book)
>>>> http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11601 <http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11601>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
>>
>> Douglas Schuler
>> douglas at publicsphereproject.org <mailto:douglas at publicsphereproject.org>
>> Twitter: @doug_schuler
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Public Sphere Project
>> http://www.publicsphereproject.org/ <http://www.publicsphereproject.org/>
>> Mailing list ~ Collective Intelligence for the Common Good
>> http://scn9.scn.org/mailman/listinfo/ci <http://scn9.scn.org/mailman/listinfo/ci>4cg-announce
>>
>> Creating the World Citizen Parliament
>> http://interactions.acm.org/archive/view/may-june-2013/creating-the-world-citizen-parliament <http://interactions.acm.org/archive/view/may-june-2013/creating-the-world-citizen-parliament>
>>
>> Liberating Voices! A Pattern Language for Communication Revolution (project)
>> http://www.publicsphereproject.org/patterns/lv <http://www.publicsphereproject.org/patterns/>
>>
>> Liberating Voices! A Pattern Language for Communication Revolution (book)
>> http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11601 <http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11601>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
Douglas Schuler
douglas at publicsphereproject.org <mailto:douglas at publicsphereproject.org>
Twitter: @doug_schuler
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Public Sphere Project
http://www.publicsphereproject.org/ <http://www.publicsphereproject.org/>
Mailing list ~ Collective Intelligence for the Common Good
http://scn9.scn.org/mailman/listinfo/ci4cg-announce
Creating the World Citizen Parliament
http://interactions.acm.org/archive/view/may-june-2013/creating-the-world-citizen-parliament <http://interactions.acm.org/archive/view/may-june-2013/creating-the-world-citizen-parliament>
Liberating Voices! A Pattern Language for Communication Revolution (project)
http://www.publicsphereproject.org/patterns/lv <http://www.publicsphereproject.org/patterns/>
Liberating Voices! A Pattern Language for Communication Revolution (book)
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11601 <http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11601>
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