Meta-Tool

[Friedrich Lindenberg]

On Sun, Dec 6, 2009 at 4:48 PM, David Bovill <david.bovill at gmail.com> wrote:
> Friedrich - I agree with the logic, and the pragmatics with what you say
> below from a theoretical perspective.

I'd again like to point out that while my argumentation might come
from a theoretical perspective, the concern itself isn't. My concern
is *only* with regard to vote mapping which I think is intellectually
dishonest to a point at which it has the potential to haunt us as a
movement if we really went ahead and did it.

I realize that you're looking for ways to easily compare and market LD
systems in order to facilitate real-world adoption. I (we, LD e.V.)
share this goal, but we'll have to find good ways to do this.

> I would actively encourage each LD system to come up with different results
> in order to create the choice and diversity upon which we can build a rich
> set of LD decision making tools. Some will be better for certain
> circumstances some others.

I agree. In order to demonstrate the strengths of each platform, we'll
have to let each system use its own process, both before the user's
decision-making and after that. It is just separating the two that I
am concerned with.

> Finally I'd argue for a common import export format that minimizes the
> trauma of moving between one implementation and another, and maximizes our
> ability to run a practical trial in which several implementations take part.

This, again, would have to be a very limited process. Each of our
systems produces different data and some of what is produced by A
might not have a place in B, while something required by B might not
be in A's data. I fail to see the  practical value of this measure,
irrespective of its (huge!) strategic appeal: Yes, organizations
should be able to travel between implementations. That should be a
priority. But in this, I would accuse you of going at this from an
overly theoretical perspective. Taking the half-finished product of a
sewing machine and putting it into an iron foundry to finish it is
just not a very rich process, even if both are factory machines. We
lack similarity of vision to do this with any meaningful result.

I'll stop the depressing part here, though :-)

Friedrich

-- 
Friedrich Lindenberg <friedrich at pudo.org>