Online BigDialog with President-elect Obama

Convener AND Notes-taker: Dazza Greenwood, CIVICS.com -

Technology Discussed/Considered:

The ultimate identifier for “good enough” individual authentication is a phone number for that person. It can be checked and it provides good quantitative ability for restricting fake users (if people from the same IP address sign up for 100 accounts with telephone numbers with unique telephone numbers, can check if numbers are valid, etc) For other people, maybe use a number to a person who can vouch for you (e.g. a social worker, notary, etc) - OR - outsourced to dollar/name services like the KBA of credit companies, etc.

LOOK AT:

• Yahoo Design Patterns for Reputation
• mag.nolia.com
• loki plus google gears API and consider Skyhook integration with tagcloud heatmap
• need mechanisms for presence on many sites (facebook app, myspace, etc) with abstracted username so we can have a single core-identity that is integrated rather than duplicated
• look at openID plus facebook connect plus MS windows live delegation, etc…

Discussion notes, key understandings, outstanding questions, observations, and, if appropriate to this discussion: action items, next steps:

We need a low bar to mass participation, perhaps just IP address at first, and an voluntary higher bar for additional identity and authentication to assure one vote per person, allow for anonymity without unaccountable abuse, the ability to sort to the President/President-elect by “top questions by Americans”, permit deeper personalization and cross-services for eGovernment participation in the future.

Additional advantages flow from additional authentication, like you get to rate on more metrics, you get to have your question counted for prizes and incentives (like getting a flight to MIT and possibly getting a “call back” from President-elect Obama), you get more advanced analytics and sorting by other peoples demographics (but with no names), etc.

Talk to people who did iPhone application for Obama that showed who they need to call in key battleground states from their contact list - gave an “action” and was a success - contact: dom@iphonedevcamp.org (mention the blog guy)

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D. Joseph Greenwood, JD

I.net: http://CIVICS.com

E.mail: dazza@media.mit.edu

M.obile: +1-650-504-5474