[liberationtech] Liberation Tech would like a word.

Thu Apr 25 07:30:48 CEST 2024

Looks like there's an RFP for deliberative technologies:

>From Michelle Lee (Protocol Labs):

Hey govtech peeps — check out this Metagov RFP for Interoperable
Deliberative Tools. $250,000 in grants for 2 phases."

"Note that the receiving entity must be a legal entity, citizen, or
permanent resident in a country that is not subject to US sanctions."

<goog_1664406429>
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G-2OVyJIvVTcQLPCg_mA3UzohSGZUm9dHPyWKwK4LlA/edit#heading=h.6s0hwgezolbm

-Kate

On Mon, Apr 22, 2024 at 3:00 PM Lorelei Kelly <loreleikelly at gmail.com>
wrote:

> deliberative technology could take many different forms pol.is  remesh,
> Zoom, Cortico Fora...online Town Hall Models, Citizen Assemblies, mini
> publics...
> what's interesting to me is how the Right to petition function of Congress
> (First Amendment duty) was basically offshored in the 1940s to the
> Executive Branch, thereby depriving Congress of its internal barometer of
> the American people-- it gave the President power at the expense of the
> legislature, and allowed the public grievance processing space to languish
> or be privatized (Facebook).   Now much access is purchased via
> lobbying...and advocacy... the rest of us are left to vote occasionally or
> protest or spiral into frustration and even apathy (very dangerous)...
> Grievance processing on top of an advertising platform is one of the major
> drivers of dysfunction IMHO. And that's not even mentioning the Putin ad
> buys.   It has been a disaster for democracy, but specifically for
> institutions like Congress whose communications standards were literally
> stuck in the Pony Express until 2020.  Here's an article that explains
> <https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/3985778-to-protect-democracy-from-machines-congress-must-modernize-our-constitutional-right-to-petition/>this
> big picture framing.
>
> We have to actually change alot of laborious and byzantine rules, even
> laws to allow Congress to function in the modern world.  It has many
> pockets of Civil War era technology like an 1860s document format.  Fixing
> this is an institutional long game--the Right Wing has been much more
> successful at eliminating public infrastructure and then
> occupying/capturing it, selling it off to friends and cronies or
> corporations (or flooding the zone with shit aka Bannon's plan)   The Left,
> as far as I can tell has no competitive institutional plan.  Centrists tend
> to not be supported by outside or adjacent orgs.
>
> our dysfunction re: tech and institutions is partly because the first
> generation of technologies on social media fit into campaigning needs, not
> governing, which requires slow moving, slow thinking and deliberation.
> Its one reason why governing looks like campaigning now. The whole
> incentive system is streamlined for it.  Citizens United in 2010 allowed
> unlimited dark money into the blood stream of democracy.  We have to change
> this incentive.  Americans need to fall in love with their governing
> institutions again. They are so beleaguered and brittle.   And this needs
> to be paid for by taxpayer dollars,facilitated by philanthropy,  not
> privatized.   Democracy is not a pro bono project or a side gig  that you
> think about while building a Mars rocket-- Scorn for institutions is one of
> the reasons I left Silicon Valley (where I was born!)  and have never
> looked back.
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 22, 2024 at 1:10 PM Kate Krauss <katiephr at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> This is so interesting. Thanks for sharing your fascinating insights into
>> the dynamics right now in US Congress. I can't believe we've found an
>> optimist! :)
>>
>> What sorts of things are you working on in this regard: "how to integrate
>> new forms of deliberative technology into the workflow of members so there
>> is a flow of authentic, productive, constituent driven feedback."  What
>> sorts of deliberative technology?
>>
>> In modernizing, what kinds of unmodern things go wrong, and what
>> direction are you going in fixing them? Also very interested to hear about
>> AI and LLMs in the House (seems like a Saturday Night Live skit, but also,
>> the future!).
>>
>> Thanks again,
>>
>> -Kate
>>
>> On Mon, Apr 22, 2024 at 12:33 PM Lorelei Kelly <loreleikelly at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> hi, thanks for the note.
>>> I'm glad to see this list momentum effort!  We need it!
>>> I lead the modernizing Congress portfolio at Georgetown and I'm still
>>> working adjacent to the US Congress with the members and committees who are
>>> behind this effort-- The House has passed 202 reform and modernization
>>> recommendations. It is truly an unprecedented and historic push forward.
>>> I'm now helping implement the more difficult ones that include a social
>>> cohesion aspect. (i.e. how to we integrate new forms of deliberative
>>> technology into the workflow of members so there is a flow of authentic,
>>> productive, constituent driven feedback)  Also we have gotten ahead of the
>>> curve on AI and LLMs in the House at least. I'm proud of this old
>>> institution, even though its looking like a three ring circus in the news.
>>> I think the Mike Johnson success on Ukraine funding is a very interesting
>>> turning point for looking at democracy as transcendent critical
>>> infrastructure (backed up by pandemic measures to go remote and then J6
>>> reactions to look at the information systems on Capitol Hill as national
>>> security priorities)  We have begun to marginalize deviant behavior through
>>> the process and this is a good, emergent, systems way to make sense of it.
>>> Very interesting time for all of this.
>>> LK
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Apr 22, 2024 at 12:19 PM Kate Krauss <katiephr at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi!
>>>>
>>>> We didn't move the list, or change its name (Liberation Tech) but we
>>>> did supply a link which works (after fixing a technical glitch) that you
>>>> can share with new people who might want to join.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>>
>>>> Kate
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Apr 22, 2024 at 12:12 PM Undescribed Horrific Abuse, One Victim
>>>> & Survivor of Many <gmkarl at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> > > Hi, I’m confused, what about the list this email was sent to (
>>>>> lt at lists.liberationtech.org) ?
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > > What does the “subscribe” link in this email have to do with that
>>>>> list?
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > > Is it a different list? The same list? Is
>>>>> lt at lists.liberationtech.org still alive or being moved?
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > > Very confused,
>>>>> > > Greg
>>>>> >
>>>>> > I'd like to relate that some communities have been both disrupted and
>>>>> > defended by influences skilled in social manipulation, and that one
>>>>> > attribute of that is changing the environment.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Changing an environment can help change, whether overt or covert, be
>>>>> > adopted more readily. It can separate both from harm and fear as well
>>>>> > as familiarity and community.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > It's pleasant that changing the list name could help people feel
>>>>> safer
>>>>> > from any trauma associated with the old list, and help anything
>>>>> > targeting the old list have a little trouble finding the new people.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > I hope that everybody who was affiliated with the old list succeeds
>>>>> in
>>>>> > finding the new one, but I know there will be people who don't.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Some communities often have to move in order to survive well. This
>>>>> > does sadly often mean leaving people behind.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Crazy Karl (I think I have OSDD from technologically-facilitated
>>>>> abuse!)
>>>>>
>>>>> Apologies, I did not realize it was the _same_ list the subscribe link
>>>>> was sent to.
>>>>>
>>>>> I had assumed by context that this was a new list.
>>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable from any major
>>>> commercial search engine. Violations of list guidelines will get you
>>>> moderated: https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/lt. Unsubscribe,
>>>> change to digest mode, or change password by emailing
>>>> lt-owner at lists.liberationtech.org.
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> *Lorelei KellyResearch Lead, Congressional Modernization
>>> <https://beeckcenter.georgetown.edu/project/modernizing-congress/>*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *Founder, Georgetown Democracy, Education + Service (GeoDES)*
>>>
>>>
>
> --
>
> *Lorelei KellyResearch Lead, Congressional Modernization
> <https://beeckcenter.georgetown.edu/project/modernizing-congress/>*
>
>
>
> *Founder, Georgetown Democracy, Education + Service (GeoDES)*
>
>
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