Proceedings talk:CB1
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This is the discussion page for Chris Bronk's presentation at Wikimania 2006, Diplopedia: Application of the Wiki Model for Collaborative Drafting in Foreign Affairs. Please join the discussion below! |
Cool....
One thing that I've noticed is that there is a lot that wikipedia can learn from foreign policy.
One is the use of "interlocutors". If the US and China want to brainstorm ideas and have real honest discussions, the discussion isn't between diplomats since anything that a diplomat might say could be damaging. The discussion is largely mediated by interlocutors (usually academics who are working in thinktanks) that don't represent anyone but themselves but are familar enough to be able to pass messages back and forth and actually do some real discussion. Situations where there are large number of interlocutors tend to work well because there are a lot of opportunities for message passing. In cases were there are no real interlocutors (Iran and North Korea) things get really slow.
The other interesting thing about foreign policy is the shear number of interest groups that are involved. Foreign policy and political discussions are remarkably open because usually executing a policy requires negotiation among large numbers of interest groups.
Now here is the world changing bit...... What happens when someone puts together a forum which is accessible to anyone in the US federal government? What happens when someone puts together a forum which is open accessible to anyone?