Merge branch 'main' of https://github.com/pluralitybook/plurality

contents/english/5-4-augmented-deliberation.md

@@ -28,16 +28,16 @@ On the other hand, when we attempt to increase the bandwidth and efficiency of c
 
 Perhaps the fundamental limit on all these approaches is that while methods of *broadcast* (allowing many to hear a single statement) have dramatically improved, *broad listening* (allowing one person to thoughtfully digest a range of perspectives) remains extremely costly and time consuming.  As economics Nobel Laureate and computer science pioneer Herbert Simon observed, "(A) wealth of information creates a poverty of attention."[^InformationWealth] The cognitive limits on the amount of attention an individual can give, when trying to focus on diverse perspectives, potentially impose sharp trade-offs between diversity and bandwidth, as well as between richness and inclusion.
 
-A number of strategies have, historically and more recently, been used to navigate these challenges.  Representatives are chosen for conversations by a variety of methods, including:
+A number of strategies have, historically and more recently, been used to navigate these challenges at scale.  Representatives are chosen for conversations by a variety of methods, including:
 
 1. Election: A campaign and voting process are used to select representatives, often based on geographic or political party groups. This is used most commonly in politics, unions and churches. It has the advantage of conferring a degree of broad participation, legitimacy and expertise, but is often rigid and expensive.
-2. Sortition: A set of people are chosen randomly, sometimes with checks or constraints to ensure some sort of balance across groups. This is used most commonly in focus groups, surveys and juries, and maintains reasonable legitimacy and flexibility at low cost, but sacrifices (or needs to supplement with) expertise and has limited participation
+2. Sortition: A set of people are chosen randomly, sometimes with checks or constraints to ensure some sort of balance across groups. This is used most commonly in focus groups, surveys and in citizen deliberative councils [^CDC] on contentious policy issues[^PublicWisdom]. It maintains reasonable legitimacy and flexibility at low cost, but sacrifices (or needs to supplement with) expertise and has limited participation
 3. Administration: A set of people are chosen by a bureaucratic assignment procedure, based on "merit" or managerial decisions to represent different relevant perspectives or constituencies. This is used most commonly in business and professional organizations and tends to have relatively high expertise and flexibility at low cost, but has lower legitimacy and participation.  
 
 
-Once the participants who will engage in conversations and deliberations are selected, facilitating meaningful interaction becomes an equally significant challenge. Ensuring all participants, regardless of their communicative modes and styles, are able to be fully heard requires a range of techniques, including active inclusion, careful management of turn-taking, encouragement of active listening and often translation and accommodation of differing abilities for auditory and visual communication styles.  These strategies can help overcome the "tyranny of structurelessness" that often affects attempts at inclusive and democratic governance, where unfair informal norms and dominance hierarchies override intentions for inclusive exchange [^TyrannyStructurelessness].
+Once participants to a deliberation are selected and arrive, facilitating a meaningful interaction is an equally significant challenge and is a science unto itself. Ensuring all participants, whatever their communicative modes and styles, are able to be fully heard requires a range of social technologies and practices, including clear purpose and agenda setting, active inclusion, small group breakouts, careful management of notes (often called the “harvest” of many small group conversations), turn-taking, and encouragement of active listening and often translation and accommodation of differing abilities for auditory and visual communication styles. A very rich field of “dialogue and deliberation” research and methods have been innovated over the last 50-60 years, and the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation is a hub for exploring these [^NCDD]. Liberating Structures [^LS] has 33 methods for people to work together in liberating ways. Participedia [^Participedia] is public participation and democratic innovations platform documenting methods and case studies. To get at the heart of the underlying patterns in good and effective processes two communities developed pattern languages 1) The Group Works: A Pattern Language for Brining Meetings and other Gatherings[^Groupworks] and 2) The Wised Democracy Pattern Language [^WD]. All of these tools can help overcome the "tyranny of structurelessness" that often affects attempts at inclusive and democratic governance, where unfair informal norms and dominance hierarchies override intentions for inclusive exchange [^TyrannyStructurelessness].
 
-Some of the challenges to “inclusion” have been significantly ameliorated by technology in recent years.  Physical travel distance used to be a severe impediment to deliberation. However, phone and video conferences have significantly mitigated this challenge, making various formats of distance/virtual meetings increasingly common venues for challenging discussions.  
+Appropriate use of digital technologies can augment the social technologies for engagement, and the intersection of the two can be fruitful.  Physical travel distance used to be a severe impediment to deliberation. However, phone and video conferences have significantly mitigated this challenge, making various formats of distance/virtual meetings increasingly common venues for challenging discussions.  
 
 The rise of internet-mediated writing, including formats such as email, message boards/usenets, webpages, blogs, and notably social media, has significantly broadened “inclusion” in written communication. These platforms offer unique opportunities for individuals to gain visibility and attention easily through user interactions (e.g., "likes" or "reposts") and algorithmic ranking systems. This paradigm shift has enabled the diffusion of information among the public, a process once firmly controlled by the editorial procedures of legacy media. However, the effectiveness of these platforms in optimally distributing attention remains a topic of debate. A common drawback is the lack of context and thorough moderation in the diffusion of information, contributing to issues like the spread of "misinformation" and "disinformation," and the dominance of well-resourced entities. Moreover, the reliance on algorithmic ranking can inadvertently create "echo chambers," confining users to a narrow stream of content that reflects their existing beliefs, thus limiting their exposure to a diverse range of perspectives and knowledge. 
 
@@ -118,3 +118,18 @@ Lastly, deliberation is sometimes idealized as helping overcome divisions and re
 [^LLMDemocracy]: Lisa Argyle, Christopher Bail, Ethan Busby, Joshua Gubler, Thomas Howe, Christopher Rytting, Taylor Sorensen, and David Wingate, "Leveraging AI for democratic discourse: Chat interventions can improve online political conversations at scale." _Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences_ 120, no. 41 (2023): e2311627120.
 
 [^LLMFinetune]: Junsol Kim, and Byungkyu Lee, "Ai-augmented surveys: Leveraging large language models for opinion prediction in nationally representative surveys," _arXiv_ (New York: Cornell University, November 26, 2023): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2305.09620.pdf.
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+[^PublicWisdom]: Tom Atlee, Empowering Public Wisdom https://www.amazon.com/Empowering-Public-Wisdom-Practical-Citizen-Led/dp/1583945008/
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+[^CDC]: A Citizen Deliberative Council (CDC) article on the Co-Intelligence Site https://www.co-intelligence.org/P-CDCs.html
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+[^NCDD]: NCDD has a big collection of methods and a framework for understanding when to use what method - https://www.ncdd.org/streams.html
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+[^Participedia]: Participedia https://participedia.net/ 
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+[^LS]: LIberating Structures  https://www.liberatingstructures.com/
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+[^Groupworks]: Group Works Deck A Pattern Language for Bringing Life to Meetings and Other Gatherings  https://groupworksdeck.org/
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+[^WD]: Wise Democracy Pattern Language https://www.wd-pl.com/