Written by: Mike Spalding
Initial Date: May 7, 2007

Note:
This document explains the need for a discussion space for Articles on WiserEarth and suggests how that space can be implemented. It does not explain the details of the open-source discussion tool. For more information on the discussion forum itself please refer to the paper written by Stephen Lamm.

Purpose

To develop a dedicated discussion space on every WiserEarth Article that serves as the foundation to allow a democratic process to take place.

Objectives

Allow users to start discussions or contribute to existing discussions on WiserEarth. The discussion functionality will allow users to discuss both general questions about an Article and also have standard discussion questions. Finally, some discussions should have the additional capability of allowing users to vote "Yes" or "No" on the original question.

Current Situation

Currently a discussion about an article takes place in the Comments section on the article page. This is insufficient because:

• Back and forth comments on discussion can become unwieldy and unsightly after it gets long. This discussion needs to be on the ‘backside' of the article, to prevent cluttering up the ‘front side.'
  
• Multiple conversations can be difficult to follow. Functionality should be similar to a regular discussion forum where users can start new discussions, respond to the original discussion question, or respond to a specific post by another user.
  
  
• Additionally, Articles on WiserEarth frequently need to be removed because they are a duplicate, obsolete, or out of scope. The current system, where a user simply changes the status of an organization without discussion is undemocratic and not transparent. Therefore, a user should have to start a discussion, post their opinion, and wait for the Article to go through further discussion and voting before its status can be changed. The details of the discussion process, (time limit and voting) will depend on the particular question type.
  

User scenario

• Scenario One – Out of Scope Organizations
  
  A user believes an organization currently in WiserEarth, doesn't meet the WiserEarth Content Standards. Instead of being able to set the organization ‘Out of Scope' without asking anyone, the user should have to start a new discussion. Once this discussion is started, two things happen:
  1. A discussion is created for the organization with a standard starting question. Something like, "Is this organization within the scope of WiserEarth?" This discussion ‘lives' on the Discuss tab for the organization.
     
     
  2. In the Discussion Forum described in a separate document, a new discussion is created that files the new discussion in the correct folder and subfolder. The Discussion started here is exactly the same as the one started above, but it simply access through a central discussion forum, instead of through the organization.
     
     
  3. The organization will remain in an out of scope discussion for a period of time and users participating in discussion will be able to vote ‘Yes' or ‘No'. At the end of the discussion process, based on the majority of votes received, the organization status will change or remain the same. In the event of a tie, status should not change.
• Scenario Two - Contributing to an Existing Discussion
  
  After the initial user has started a discussion about an organization, users will find and contribute to the discussion is a two ways:
  
  
  1. A user visiting the organization's page sees a notice at the top page that says something like, "This organization is under discussion, click here to contribute". After clicking, they will be taken to the ongoing discussion.
     
     
  2. A user can visit the central Discussion Forum described in a separate document and find the ongoing discussion by browsing or searching on that page. When they click on the discussion it will bring them to the organizational page and the ongoing discussion.
     
     Essentially the discussion itself is decentralized.
     
     The process from these scenarios would be same for any Article on WiserEarth. The only difference would be the type of question a user might start, for example, a user might simply have a question about what it is like to work for an organization, and if the discussion started has a time limit or includes voting.
     

Market Research

The ability to discuss an article is very common on wiki-based website. For example, from Wikipedia, the discussion page looks like:



On WiserEarth, it could look like:

This organization must adhere to the WiserEarth Content Standards of Organizations. And must be within our values . . .

• Does this organization meet the standards of the WiserEarth community?
• Should this organization be combined with another organization entry?
• What is it like to work/volunteer for this organization?

Implementation:
Discuss Tab Would Go Here and would expand like the History tab does now



In place of the history, would be description of the various discussions going on for the organization. For example, it might have a short introduction paragraph and be followed by the 3 or 4 different types of discussions that someone can start. See Image 1 for a concept of what this summary would look like.

Voting Aspect:

It isn't necessary or encouraged to have users ‘rank' organizations, but to simply vote ‘yes' or ‘no' as to whether an organization meets the WiserEarth Content Standards. The justification for their vote can be based on both the Content Standards and the Practices (a collection of the best ways to do something). They'll cite those sources in the discussion part, but in the end, need to vote ‘yes' or ‘no' on the organization itself. It would be great if this feature could be added to the Discussion.

Flow Chart:

Here is a flow chart of the discussion and voting process.