Visioning exercise (Mallory & Pierre April 20 - May 27, 2009)

This tool can be used for BRAINSTORMING EXERCISES, in which an undefined number of items can be added. This would be an effective way to get everyone's voice heard, for example. In practice, it's best to do this simultaneously with a predefined topic or goal, and for a specified amount of time. Endorsements would allow for a prioritization of the list. This tool should include a kind of exporting/importing function into another instance of the collaborative democracy online meeting center. Step one in a workflow that would then allow for explanations.(@ PRINCIPLES and MEETING AGENDA DRAFTING are formally similar cases )

This tool can be used for DRAFTING COLLECTIVELY A DOCUMENT with several parts, sections, or paragraphs. (A variant is DRAFTING A COMMON AGENDA.) All paragraphs or sections can be fully edited by all groups. In this case, endorsements could be used for consensus-building around the text. Each paragraph should have its own endorsement, as well as the larger document having an endorsement option. Tracking changes might become difficult if this exercise is done over a long period of time, so changes to an endorsed paragraph or the larger document should alert the users/groups via email that their endorsements have been dropped due to editing. In addition to endorsements, groups must be able to alter the vertical order of paragraphs or sections by modifying the "weight" parameter of each item under the modify/edit mode.

This tool can be used for a NESTED DOCUMENT, meaning each item has several fields that have been predefined (for example with "title", "body", "owner", "due date", etc.). Separate from the actual population of these fields, which are again created and editable by all, is a defined priority of the items, which is also separate from the item's endorsements. As with previous versions, an edit rescinds all previous endorsements for only those fields that have been identified in the configuration of the exercise. ( usage not so clear - can think of an exercice of drafting parallel letters and then compare them )

Tool can be used to create a LIST OF PRINCIPLES, which is the same as a brainstormed list, but with a limited, or controlled, number of items. This instance can be seen as a second step in a workflow, following a brainstorming phase and producing parallel items with or without semantic overlap, such as a structuration phase in which a brainstormed list can be reworked: organized, prioritized, explained by using endorsements and weight/prioritization parameters. Here the peculiarity is that we start with content resulting from a preceeding phase and try to rework it, although this could also be a stand-alone instance as well. (Incidentally, this is the purest form of the software, i.e. the closest to its original intention). ( probably we need to classify the usages and the formalisms in a sort of table ( there are close variants)

This tool can be used to DEFINE INTERACTIVELY AN AGENDA OF AN UPCOMING ON LINE MEETING. Each group or participant enters items and can any other item. Everyone can endorse an item and also prioritize an item to appear earlier in the meeting.or Everyone can endorse two different things that can be worded by some people ( who? when ? how? )it can be the general level of importance of an item, or its order of coverage in the agenda, or its order of chronological implementation etc..