Just a few hours ago, I saw a news article indicating that there's a proposal to change the way Wikipedia users contribute content. At present, most changes are instant. The proposal would require changes to be approved by a group of editors. Wikipedia is probably one of the more commonly thought of examples of a democratic model for a knowledge repository. The fact that this proposal is suggesting the addition of a more model-authoritative component to Wikipedia goes a long way in illustrating that there is a lot of "real-world" debate as to the merits and drawbacks of both of these models. I find it interesting to see how the ideas we examine in the classroom have real-world application.

I haven't done anything relevent to this project. I do, however, have some ideas relating to it. Examining the strengths and weaknesses of both models provides an opportunity to try to merge the two into a new model. As with many things, the key to producing a revolutionary model may be balance. Ideally, this model would inherit the strengths of both without inheriting too many of the weaknesses. The creation of a new model that's essentially democratic but with enough model-authoritative aspects to address the trust and reliability issues that plague the democratic model would be a significant accomplishment. The fact that sites like Wikipedia are looking at ways to add more model-authoritative aspects shows that even knowledgebases that are fundamentally democratic realize that going too far in favor of the democratic model can be damaging.

The article about possible Wikipedia changes is here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jan/27/wikipedia-may-approve-all-changes

I find this topic mostly interesting because of the push by some ISPs (begenning with Virgin Media) to push the internet toward a pay-per-service structure. The idea is that users would pay for access to certain sites and would not be allocated bandwidth if they attempted to access websites that were not included in their subscription package.

If this sort of marketing approach were to take root, the internet would shift from THE MODEL-DEMOCRATIC medium, to another MODEL-AUTHORATIVE form of communication, where users would receive one way broadcasts from the preferred websites.

While the progress toward this sort of paradigm shift will undoubtedly be met with fierce resistance, the very fact that there are those who have this as their aim, makes it a topic of interest and prime importance.

From an architectural and planning perspective, the design world has mainly followed the Model-Authoritative model - users do not have any input into the majority of structures they inhabit. Part of my PhD research is an attempt to find ways to make the architectural and planning disciplines more democratic by providing users the ability to provide feedback and shape future built environments.

I am interested in reading more about this topic. In particular, I'm interested in any research that demonstrates successful applications of the Model-Democratic model to architecture and planning.

In my PhD researh, I have explored design rationale models, concentrating on applying user-centered design rationale models to pervasive computing built environments. There are few sources about applying user-centered design methodologies to the built environment (let alone adding pervasive computing to the mix). A quick Google search on this topic brings up my own poster from last year's ICS poster session!

Here is a link to an ACM article entitled "A Survey of User-Centered Design Practice" http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/510000/503460/p471-vredenburg.pdf?key1=503460&key2=3824313321&coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE&CFID=19430558&CFTOKEN=51333824
Here is an interesting article entitled "Capturing user requirements for an integrated home environment" http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1030000/1028053/p255-green.pdf?key1=1028053&key2=2654313321&coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE&CFID=19431092&CFTOKEN=44327189

This topic to me is the most interesting. I like it because it is investigating the status quo authority structure for the flow of information against a relatively new model, the internet. There are benefits and downsides to both.

Often times, the authoritative model protects old ways of thinking, and through the illusion of exclusivity and high entry costs, old members (newspapers, tv) can dictate the way information is presented to benefit a corporation rather than a consumer.

On the other side, a model-democratic model, like the internet, can give too much credibility to malicious, or unverified information. That is why investigating new input filters, and new data repositories is an effective way to mitigate said problems.

One example of convergence between these two models is the case of online news stories with comments sections. Alot of times, very interesting information can be found in the comments to a story, but finding these gems of information can be difficult. Ratings systems for comments can help determine the applicability and quality of a given comment, but the layout and structure of a comments section still inhibits efficient use of comments as a way to get information. Maybe, a multi-column layout, or dynamic layout would help, by seperating relevant comments, and positioning higher quality ones at the top of a column. If columns are separated by context, or organized in a list, the user can find the additional user based info they want to supplement the original news story.