Date: Mon, 22 Aug 1994 15:39:23 -0700 Subject: GovAccess.044: changing GovAccess, ballot info, civicnet policies Aug.22, 1994 GOVACCESS WILL CHANGE FORMAT FOR FUTURE NOTICES I will be changing the format/style of GovAccess postings after this "issue." Hereafter, I will simply transmit or echo items of information mostly one at a time, mo'less as I get 'em, rather than combining multiple [often-unrelated] items into uniformly-formatted 'newsletters' like this one. MORE MESSAGES; SHORTER MESSAGES This means that you will be getting more separate messages, but each of them will be shorter and concern only a single topic. This GovAccess.044 will be the last numbered GovAccess distribution. There are several reasons for this change: 1. I'm gettin' cooked. I think this is a [very] valuable service, and am happy to be doin' it, but it's pro bono [contentedly so], and I'm doin' it alone ... and it's a real time-suckah! This change will help reduce that "sound of time sucking." :-) 2. Collecting and formatting multiple goodies for un-periodic newsletter- format retransmission is delay-prone, and some of this stuff is highly time-sensitive. There have been multiple instances in the past half-year when I simply coudn't/didn't distribute information as fast as was needed. Firing msgs off with minimal diddling will fire 'em faster. 3. Many may find it more useful for items to arrive singly, rather than in the unrelated globollas of my current and past GovAccess postings. That way, ya can save whatcha find interesting without having to cut-n-paste, and flush what you find boring, easily and quickly. Electrons are *so* easy to recycle. :-) 4. For some years, Dave Farber [farber@cis.upenn.edu] has been distributing several-or-more messages per day about whatever varied topics interest him to his large "interesting-people" list (which could more-accurately be called "interested-people"). It has proven easy, fast and useful to those who receive it. (Most of Farber's traffic concerns net issues, expecially net-related policy issues - but he often includes wildly-random exotic items of interest. He's an outstanding self-inflicted net-surfing Editor Extraordinare!. If you have the time to try it out for a bit, ask him to add you to his distrib list.) &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& CALIFORNIA BALLOT "PAMPHLET" NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE As what may be another net 'first,' California's acting Secretary of State, Tony Miller, has arranged to make the volumous content of the state's ballot pamphlet available online. His Deputy SoS just called this morn to say that it is now available to anyone who can use Internet ftp or gopher at secstate.public.ca.gov . Yet another advantage of *modern* mass information-access: The pre-landfill *paper* ballot pamphlets won't arrive in voters' snailmail boxes until late September. Check id oudt! - and send your comments to Miller and his staff at comments@secstate.public.ca.gov . [And it it is in any iota imperfect, let him know gently and give him a chance to improve it. Miller *is* *strongly* dedicated to opening up his records to online public access.] [Do you know of any other state jurisdiction that has done this, via the *public* nets, i.e. the Internet? If so, please tell jwarren@well.com .] &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& CONTROLLING COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNITY/CIVIC NETWORKS [I recently transmitted this to a number of folks who are planning how best to create/implement a civic network for the communities of Palo Alto, Calif. The question had been raised of whether a discussion group or listserv that would be open to public commentary by community members should be moderated. Sez I -- ] The experience in Santa Monica's PEN system (the oldest city-run civic net in the nation) was that unmoderated community-discussions were soon dominated by a small minority who had lots of time, fast fingers and a tenacious willingness to vigorously trash anyone who dared to disagree with them - a result that is predictable to anyone who has spent much time online. The PEN folks said it chased *lots* of people out of their "immoderate" discussions. I've suggested that the most appropriate approach - particularly for city-operated or egalitarian systems, that have at-least implicit mandates of free speech and free assembly - is to offer *both* an unmoderated area or list (sort of an electronic Hyde Park where any luminary or looney can spout forth, unfettered) AND moderated areas/lists of two types -- 1. A "auto-moderated" list where anyone can say anything, but only for a limited number of bytes and only once per time-period (day? week?), and 2. A *set* of fully-moderated lists, absolutely-controlled by each list's moderator -- but where any person who desires to set up such a list and be its moderator can do so. The auto-moderated list is analogous to a city-council meeting in which all members of the public have an opportunity to speak, but are given only a limited amount of time. It has the advantage of not needing a human moderator, if the appropriate software is available to auto-truncate over-long postings and auto-reject (*with* explanation!) postings in excess of the specified time-period. [But, do be wary of SMOP - Simple Matter of Programming. The sofware may or may not be available, and *does* have some design complexities.] The set of automatically self-created, moderated lists is analogous to permitting any community group to convene its own private meeting in an open public meeting facility, but nonetheless fully control and chair its own meeting. Those that are "good" or "interesting" meetings that are fairly moderated will be well-attended. Those that are space-case dictatorships (eye of the beholders) will have a membership of not-many, but nonetheless meet the democratic mandate of equal *opportunity* for access. Oh -- and now that I've mentioned the "a" word -- "access" -- just one observation: *THE* most serious access barriers and inequities - BY FAR! - are (1) the inability to read and/or communicate in writing, and (2) the inability to type. *ALL* other access inequities *pale* in comparison. (I ain't sayin' that the cost and availability access problems shouldn't be addressed. I'm just pointing out the *real* access problems.) Apologies for the length. [but, those who know me, know this *is* brief :-) ] --jim &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& "If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost." --Aristotle From: dbatterson@attmail.com (David Batterson) Mo' as it Is. --jim Jim Warren, columnist for MicroTimes, Government Technology, BoardWatch, etc. 345 Swett Rd., Woodside CA 94062; voice/415-851-7075; fax/415-851-2814 >> To join or drop the GovAccess list, email to jwarren@well.com . << >> Permission herewith granted for unlimited reposting and recirculation. <<