Expert Networks: II

The full incorporation of blog and wiki technology in ProfNet undoubtedly will change our network in many ways, but the most interesting potential new feature appears to be that of the "shared space" -- or the "collaborative space," as Ross Mayfield would call it. Ross is the founder and president of Socialtext, a leading developer of collaborative software and especially state-of-the-art wikis -- Web environments that support the management of projects by making simple the posting, tracking and editing of content by multiple participants.

A technology like Socialtext intrigues us at ProfNet because it offers a new and powerful way to aggregate expert content. It enables us to easily envision the day, for example, when we use a collaborative environment to develop ProfNet Round-ups -- enabling reporters, PR officers and experts to meet in Web "rooms" where they can interact more powerfully than by email, phone or video alone.

Exactly what will this interaction look like? How will PR officers, experts and reporters actually use this new capability? We don't know exactly and so -- with an eye toward visualizing how this new capability might work in practice -- we are undertaking with Socialtext a project directed first toward identifying experts on an issue of overriding national importance and then, via Socialtext, making them easily available for interactions with reporters and government officials.

As our "demo" topic, we'll focus on the current debate in the U.S. over the deployment of a national ID card -- a topic that, as The New York Times recently editorialized (May 31), "has always rankled Americans across the political spectrum."

"It conjures images of totalitarianism -- Big Brother or even the German SS soldier asking to see a citizen's papers. But in most European countries, people carry national ID's as a matter of course. And pressure is mounting in America for some kind of security card."

The Times went on to call upon Congress or President Bush to create a study commission.

"If ever there was a good subject for a study commission, this is it. Congress or President Bush should get the best minds, the experts on security, civil liberties and technology, to start wrestling with the most nettlesome issues in this debate."

Among the questions the Times identified as being most in need of answers:

> How will government agencies ensure that documents submitted to obtain an ID card -- like birth certificates or driver's licenses -- were not forged?

> How will access to the central database be limited and protected against misuse, particularly by law enforcement?

"If we're going to move to a national identification card, we can't afford to do it badly," the Times concluded. "Now is the time to figure out how to create a card that helps identify people but doesn't rob them of a huge swath of their civil liberties in the process."

We don't know the answers to the tough questions posed by the Times, but we do collectively know -- as a network of 11,000 PR people representing some 4000 organizations (including some 650 colleges and universities) -- the key experts government officials and news organizations should be consulting. Over the next month or so, we'll invite ProfNet members to join us in spotlighting these experts and making them easily available to any reporters and government officials.

We've already announced a round-up on this topic, and will be forwarding to reporters toward the end of this week an initial list of sources that our query has generated.

After that, we'll take the additional step of inviting both experts and their news contacts to expand on their thinking in a Socialtext workspace (to which contributions can be simply made by email, with no requirement for registration.)

When we've assembled a critical mass of experts and their news contacts, we'll invite government officials and reporters to join us in this new "National ID Card" space and give us their thoughts.

Any suggestions or thoughts on this? Please post your comment here or send me a note at dan.forbush@profnet.com.

Thanks.

Author: Dan Forbush | Jul 12, 04 | Permalink | 0 comments
Category: @ Dan Forbush | Topic 1 PR and Participatory Journalism

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