How Collective Email Dialog Works 10 comments

14 Aug 2004 @ 10:12, by Roger Eaton Work continues, slowly, on developing the specs for the Voice of Humanity Network. Meanwhile in an important side development, a prototype collective email dialog program is being assembled using Python and MySQL. Time frame is to have it ready by January for a possible Jewish / Muslim Interfaith Dialogue. Focusing on the Middle East, this dialogue will use collective communication to build consensus in a non-confrontational way. Each of these three terms needs a short explanation. Collective communication is a novel technique of communication between groups. Instead of communicating through a spokesperson, members of a group write messages and then vote to select the one message that best represents the group. A benefit of this method is that it is democratic and involving. The dialogue will build consensus because there will be a third group to take part, that of the two groups combined into one. The messages selected by the combined group will represent the common humanity of the Jewish and Muslim participants, giving the advantage to those who are looking for a positive outcome. The dialogue will be non-confrontational in that it will be structured so the common voice of the two groups mediates the interaction and the two groups never directly engage each other. This is best seen in the accompanying diagram. In words, the dialogue will proceed in alternating "together" and "apart" rounds. First there will be a "together" round producing one message to represent the common humanity of the two groups. Then there will be an "apart" round producing two messages, one from each of the groups separately. Then a together round and so forth. The two groups never respond directly to each other. This structure reinforces the consensus building aspect and, importantly under the circumstances, should altogether prevent a negative outcome. Given this structure, the Dialogue will attract people looking for a positive, win-win outcome in the Middle East and will put off those whose real purpose is inimical. Let us therefore begin the Dialogue with faith in our fellow dialoguers and renewed hope for the world.

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