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Building consensus online/definitions? From: Peter Shane Date: Feb 07 15:58 UTC Short link
Sorry - I meant "loosely following," of course.
-----Original Message----- From: Peter M. Shane [mailto:<email obscured>] Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 10:23 AM To: <email obscured> Subject: Re: [Consult] Building consensus online/definitions? I've been loosing following this thread, but find myself wondering -- is everyone using "consensus" to mean the same thing? Some posts seem to aim towards something like unanimous agreement. Others seem to mean something like "general agreement," even if there remains substantial dissent. Yet others seem to mean just a majority conclusion, so long as the dissenters buy into the legitimacy of the process. What, exactly, are you all talking about? Best, Peter -----Original Message----- From: Pete Thomson [mailto:<email obscured>] Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 10:12 AM To: <email obscured> Subject: Re: [Consult] Building consensus online Michael, I think it was the word "force" that sparked my comment - I'm not sure if it's really an objection. Miles has now clarified that he didn't mean quite what I took it to mean. Where I'm coming from, basically, is the relatively low level of participation in almost all online spaces (low compared to, say, voting in elections). It is about point (a) in Michael's labelling of my points: individuals and interest groups are not under any pressure to participate. That means that (1) there's not seen to be an active marketplace that's worth selling into, and (2) legitimacy is weak so action is unlikely (unless the forum is sponsored by an institution that's committed to acting on its conclusions). This may be getting a bit off topic from Steven's original question, which is more about point (b). But actually I wonder whether one reason for difficulty in reaching consensus is that the participants don't really believe it matters. We may heckle the guy spouting off from the soapbox, but the discussion with him won't change the way we vote. Member profile for Pete Thomson: http://groups.dowire.org/contacts/petethomson ----------------------------------------- Group home for Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation: http://groups.dowire.org/groups/consult Replies go to members of Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation with all posts on this topic here: http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/FngbNHyu4Qg4qTuDr2VaI For digest version or to leave Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation, email <email obscured> with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*. Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation is hosted by Democracies Online - http://dowire.org. Member profile for Peter Shane: http://groups.dowire.org/contacts/petershane ----------------------------------------- Group home for Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation: http://groups.dowire.org/groups/consult Replies go to members of Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation with all posts on this topic here: http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/3UHT75AHgeuTSdgwrNf7zC For digest version or to leave Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation, email <email obscured> with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*. Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation is hosted by Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.
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