January 6th, 2009 | in Uncategorized | No Comments »
It seems to me there is a critical difference between activity logs and reputation scores. This difference can easily be seen in comparing, for example, a log of transactions from eBay and a log of changes to a Wikipedia page.
If you look at an eBay transaction log, it’s generally a series of nonsensical entries and a rating, either positive or negative. It’s the rating, really, that’s the important point. For example, here are some of the feedback entries left for me:
Thank you for an easy, pleasant transaction. Excellent buyer. A++++++. Seller: gbscomputers ( 6379) Nov-06-08 23:01
Good buyer, prompt payment, valued customer, highly recommended. Seller: mykbdirectstore ( 15164) Oct-09-08 01:49
Legit buyer Seller: the.shady ( 22)
Hope to deal with you again. Thank you. Seller: cbr1999 ( 7109) Apr-05-08 15:45
Thank you for an easy, pleasant transaction. Excellent buyer. A++++++. Seller: kc064 ( 2159) Mar-31-08 11:54
Good transaction. Thank you. Seller: theteachingstore ( 955) Mar-14-08 16:19
A pleasure to do business with, Thank you Seller: chesapeake-wholesale ( 259) Mar-01-08 06:01
Nice exhange…thanks from Tucker Books Seller: rondatucker116 ( 273) Nov-05-07 13:01
Thank you! Seller: dnor1954 ( 187) Nov-05-07 08:14
Hope to deal with you again. Thank you. Thanks for choosing A1Books. Seller: a1books_express ( 90327)
These entries really are meaningless. They are only there because eBay requires you to put something in the field. They do not tell you anything of note about the transaction. The sellers do not really “hope to deal with you again” in anything but the vaguest sense, since they do not keep up with you afterward!
On the other hand, examine a Wikipedia activity log for a page that would be highly controversial and active (“Barack Obama”)
These activity logs are far more detailed. They present information not only about the changes made, but also the reasoning for them. This kind of activity log leads to transparency which engenders trust. It enables collaboration because people can understand each other and develop relationships with each other akin to pen-pals working on something over a long distance.
Whenever swarmish organizations are working in a decentralized fashion, I believe these kinds of detailed activity logs are more important than reputation management systems. It’s interesting that slashdot.org’s voting system is more akin to the Wikipedia model than digg’s or redditt’s. Digg and reddit collect votes on particular articles. Slashdot allows you to assign adjectives to a particular article. While perhaps not as detailed as the Wikipedia approach, it nonetheless is more detailed than a simple vote… and it allows people to get a sense of a link. What would happen if a collaborative news source used some kind of Wikipedia-style comment logging about a news article?
The result actually might be closer to Friendfeed. In another article I recently highlighted, the importance of journalism is less in reporting the occurrence of an event, and more in analyzing the “why.” These activity logs, when taken in aggregate, could be a way to crowdsource the “why.” That’s why FF is better in some senses than Digg or Redditt – because it could actually crowdsource journalism, perhaps, or at least leads into journalistic activity.
I ran across this great article on swarmish principles.
Emergence violates so many of our Western assumptions of how change happens that it often takes quite a while to understand it. In nature, change never happens as a result of top-down, pre-conceived strategic plans, or from the mandate of any single individual or boss. Change begins as local actions spring up simultaneously in many different areas. If these changes remain disconnected, nothing happens beyond each locale. However, when they become connected, local actions can emerge as a powerful system with influence at a more global or comprehensive level. (Global here means a larger scale, not necessarily the entire planet.) –http://bit.ly/Mvu1
Perhaps the major part of the job of a swarm “catalyst” is to “raise the temperature on the pot.” You need to facilitate a conversation that bubbles without trying to lay any particular direction on it aside from an overarching plausible promise. This promise is initially used to draw people together; once they are together, just let the pot “percolate” – bubble – and see what it emerges.
When great thoughts and ideas begin to emerge, the next job of a swarm facilitator is to make connections between the PEOPLE (not the IDEAS) and let them percolate some more.
This really reminds me of Seth Godin’s comments in Tribes: to start a swarm, have a compelling vision, enable people to talk to each other, and enable them to draw other people in.
While I am not particularly political, I am very interested in this year’s election campaign for one simple reason: I am passionate about swarms, and the Obama campaign has built a very swarmish organization. These links continue the two-part bibliographic description of this org.
________. "Professor: on-the-ground effort key to Idaho Dem race." In Foxnews.com, 5/2/2008? 2/5/2008?, http://bit.ly/3fOnMd. Obama forces have really done [organization] very well in Idaho…
Nagourney, Adam. "Spending heavily, Obama attempts knockout blow." In New York Times, 2 March 2008, http://bit.ly/29L8eN. Taking advantage of his financial edge, Obama is buying large amounts of advertising and building extensive get-out-the-vote operations in an effort to end Clinton’s candidacy with twin defeats Tuesday in Ohio and Texas. … The campaign flew 200 paid organizers from across the country to 10 campaign offices in Texas right after the Feb. 5 primaries when some of Mrs. Clinton’s staff members were volunteering to work without pay. Another 150 were sent to build get-out-the-vote networks in Ohio, working for Paul Tewes, who was the Obama campaign’s director in Iowa. Mr. Obama’s eight-point victory in that state’s caucuses gave his campaign a huge boost.
Kaiser, Lisa. "Obama’s grassroots ground game." In Expressmilwaukee.com, 25 June 2008, http://bit.ly/3d7UKi. [In April 2007] the fledgling Obama campaign raised $250,000 at the Milwaukee events, built a network of solid supporters at a time when the New York senator was thought to be the inevitable nominee. “And they did it all with volunteers,” said Paul Schmitz, a volunteer leader with the campaign. … Empowering individuals—the grassroots—to act for the greater good … Mobilizing large numbers of people to challenge entrenched, moneyed interests … Identifying leaders in communities and the talents of those who are often overlooked … Aiming for a concrete goal instead of just “fighting the good fight” … Finding issues of consensus to build a majority coalition that can work together on important issues … Sharlen Moore, co-founder of Urban Underground, said that community organizers are able to network creatively and stretch their limited funds and resources to achieve their larger goals. … The long primary fight between Obama and Clinton provided Obama with opportunity to build a campaign structure in all states, an important goal for Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean. … “Even in states Obama lost, he has a grassroots network from the primaries,” Marx said. “And he’s done that in state after state.” … he campaign just trained 3,600 volunteer leaders one day who will work in 17 states—including Wisconsin—this summer. The campaign selected these leaders as part of its “Obama Organizing Fellowships,” which drew more than 10,000 applicants who were willing to devote six weeks to building grassroots support for Obama’s candidacy. An estimated 120 will grounded in Wisconsin, with 20 in Milwaukee. The Milwaukee office will open shortly. … The McCain camp has attempted to build a “Citizens for McCain” coalition of Reagan Democrats and Clinton supporters, but the effort has paled in comparison to Obama’s grassroots efforts. McCain has resorted to speaking to the party faithful in small, tightly controlled town hall meetings to shore up Republican voting base.
Quinn, Sean. "Shock and awe, paid organizer version." In fivethirtyeight.com, 14 July 2008, http://bit.ly/2psoIh. McCain outspending Obama on air 2:1 in some places; Obama campaign using overwhelming ground organization as key strategy. Polls don’t account for the force multiplier effect of millions of volunteers and thousands of paid staffers. Paid organizers each recruit volunteers and precinct captains (themselves responsible for recruitment and management of volunteers) in a pyramid scheme aimed at massive voter-to-voter contact: tens of millions of voter contacts, all knocked out 5, 10, 50 at a time by volunteers. Information is gleaned to a voter file; repeat contacts are thereby more informed (undecideds can be persuaded; supporters can be urged to early vote; banked early votes allow campaigns to use resources more efficiently in the closing days, etc.). Peer to peer: voters persuade other voters more personally and powerfully than a 30-second TV ad. Ads give impressions; real people close the sale.
Ambinder, Marc. "Obama’s Michigan Campaign will be 2x the size of Kerry’s." In The Atlantic, 14 July 2008, http://bit.ly/27PHLf. Over 170 staffers, mostly field organizers, overseeing neighborhood teams, knocking on doors, making phone calls, recruiting supporters and volunteers. 5 constituency voter coordinators. 2,000 precinct captains. 40+ offices. “Largest field mobilization the state has seen in any election.”
Goldstein, Dana. "It’s His Party." In The American Prospect, 18 August 2008, http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=its_his_party_08. Obama’s first major staff change at DNC was to install Paul Tewes, the skilled organizer who served as the architect of Obama’s crucial victory in Iowa, at the DNC to head up the committee’s election-year efforts. A few weeks later, it was announced that the DNC would cease accepting contributions from lobbyists or political action committees. Much of the DNC was moving to Chicago. The Obama campaign has announced plans for training camps that will turn out thousands of new organizers dedicated to electing Democrats. It will spend millions in blood-red states where Democrats haven’t seriously invested in building party infrastructure for decades. It constructed a fundraising machine based around small-donors that promises to end the age-old competition for dollars between different wings of the Democratic establishment, enabling the creation of a unified electoral strategy. It has argued "real change" requires the sort of legislative successes that only a strong congressional party can produce. Thus, Obama’s campaign operation was built to amass two different types of votes: those that will win Obama the election and those that will pass his legislation if he becomes president.
dday. "Obama’s big bet–the power of the ground game." In Daily Kos, 19 August 2008, http://bit.ly/2gq2Bu. They are failing to totally account for the X factor of the election, which is going virtually unmentioned throughout the blogosphere - the historic ground effort that the Obama campaign is banking on to win. It is not without peril, but it is a very new thing, and I think we have to understand it if we want to understand the twists and turns of this election.
McConnell, Brian. “What Obama’s text message campaign reveals.” In GigaOM, 24 August 2008, http://bit.ly/25SaOn. “This is probably the smartest marketing campaign we’ve seen in decades.”
Walton, Doug. “Organizing like Obama: Web 2.0 enabled change agents in action.” In empowerbase.com, 10 September 2008, http://bit.ly/2ZSjOW. Very in-depth: Early on the Obama campaign trained 7,000 people to be community organizers. “We didn’t want to train volunteers—we wanted to train organizers, folks who can fend for themselves.” 4-day event called Camp Obama. Master organizers, Harvard professors trained some of the most dedicated supporters in best practices of community organizing. Second, enabled organizers to have freedom to operate on their own. Third, worked with founder of Facebook to create my.barackobama.com where supporters could talk to each other. Fourth, vigorously collect email addresses and supporter profiles.
____. “Local area networks: how the Obama campaign works on the ground.” In CIO Insight, 29 September 2008, http://bit.ly/2mUauw. Very in-depth 4-part look at how the ground game was done.
____. “Ground game: Obama’s voter registration drive and the NRA mailer.’ In Campaigndiaries.com, 10 September 2008, http://bit.ly/3T63iQ. Brief examination of the ground game and the edge Obama has.
Constable, Anne. "Vote 2008: Obama’s ground war." In The New Mexican, 21 September 2008, http://www.santafenewmexican.com/SantaFeNorthernNM/Obama-s-ground-war. In-depth personal look at people participating in the Obama campaign.
Fried, Ian. "What the polls are missing, part 1: the Obama Ground Game." In The Seminal, 10 September 2008, http://www.theseminal.com/2008/09/10/what-the-polls-are-missing-part-1-the-obama-ground-game. Even when the national polls put McCain in the lead, he is missing some crucial ingredients that favor the Obama campaign, specifically his Get Out The Vote (GOTV) structure that is unprecedented in American politics. The Obama campaign is not merely putting paid staff on the ground in almost every state, they are doing it in numbers and depth that the McCain campaign not only can’t match, but wouldn’t know how to implement. David Plouffe and David Axelrod of the Obama campaign seem to be convinced that the McCain campaign is far behind when it comes to ground operations, something that does not show up in polling.
Feldman, Linda. "McCain Political Director: ground game taking off; though McCain’s ground effort started late, old Bush hand Mike DuHaime says it can catch up with Obama’s." In Christian Science Monitor, 24 September 2008, http://bit.ly/2bHHL7. Old Bush hand believes McCain can catch up to Obama in the ground game.
Newton-Small, Jay. "Obama banks on the ground game." In TIME, 10 Sep 2008, http://bit.ly/2Rm9Ps. Not panicking. Stunning gains in voter registration. Republicans not impressed. Underestimating surge of new voters was Hillary’s downfall. Harold Ickes: “I don’t think in my experience in Democratic politics there’s ever been anything like it.” GOP canvasses once a month in Virginia. “Thomas and her 8 million allies are canvassing 24/7.”
Van Dyke, Kevin. “The Buckeye Ground Game.” In Demokracy, 11 September 2008, http://bit.ly/ezKm4. As polls tightened during the month of August, the mainstream media wondered why Obama was not using his superior resources to outspend Senator McCain on the airwaves. But as the pundits chirped, Senator Obama’s ground game was quietly being built behind the scenes. Obama has more field offices than McCain in all battleground states except Florida. Examines one of the field offices as a case study.
Naymik, Mark. “Obama, McCain both build on Bush model to win Ohio.” In Plain Dealer Reporter, 28 September 2008, http://bit.ly/1eHG2q. Another in-depth personal look at offices and the technology used.
DeWitt, David. “The ground game: Obama with 7 to 1 advantage in offices, Palin bump creating ‘dramatic’ expansion for McCain.” In Politickeroh.com, 12 September 2008, http://www.politickeroh.com/ground-game-obama-7-1-advantage-offices-palin-bump-creating-dramatic-expansion-mccain.
This month, lots of briefer, more in-depth profiles of the local campaign workers. Many reporters came to realize the power and strength of this ground game.
O’Connor, John. “Running the ‘ground game.’” In The State, 31 October 2008, http://bit.ly/4gTylU. Very brief look at South Carolina.
“Liberal Youth.” “Will the media tell the ground game story?” In Daily Kos, 17 October 2008, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/17/2056/6464. Short commentary on the importance of the ground game.
Quinn, Sean. “On the road: St. Louis County, Missouri.” In Fivethirtyeight.com, 3 October 2008, http://bit.ly/bXMgS. An in-depth examination of how the Obama ground effort dwarfed that of McCain’s.
Scott, Anna. “Obama camp turns to barbers to boost turnout.” In Herald Tribune, 20 October 2008, http://bit.ly/2t9xKg. A network of barbers in black neighborhoods turned into effective voter mobilizers. Effective demonstration of peer-to-peer mobilization.
Baldwin, Tom. “Republicans hire mercenaries for ground war against Barack Obama.” In Times Online, 27 October 2008, http://bit.ly/3C3jYh. In the breadth of its ambition and attention to detail, the campaign of Mr Obama — he talks of it as a “movement” — may surpass a Republican grassroots organisation built for President Bush in 2004 that has since fallen into disrepair. The Democratic ground operation, together with a concerted effort to register millions of new voters, may swell support upwards of 3 per cent next week.
Quinn, Sean. “On the road—Troy, Ohio.” In fivethirtyeight.com, 11 October 2008, http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/on-road-troy-ohio.html. Short, deep look at ground game in Ohio.
Raasch, Chuck. “Ground game could be tipping to Obama in 2008.” In Statesman Journal, 12 October 2008, http://bit.ly/QG0LE. For all the debating and spending on advertising, the next president of the United States is more likely to be determined by countless encounters like the one taking place on a suburban Missouri doorstep on the first Saturday in October.
_____. “Ground games rev up in presidential race.” In Rocky Mountain News, 11 October 2008, http://m.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/oct/11/ground-games-rev-colo-presidential-race/. Twenty houses in four hours. That’s what Barack Obama Colorado volunteer Maria Logsdon hits every weekend, knocking on doors in the suburbs north of Denver. In a battleground state polls show could go either way, both Obama and John McCain supporters are kicking into overdrive their ground efforts.
Shear, Michael. "Obama winning ground game in Virginia." In Philadelphia Post Gazette, 19 October 2008, http://bit.ly/1Bybjh. By every organizational measure, Mr. Obama’s campaign appears to have the advantage — it has nearly three times as many offices, contacted tens of thousands more potential supporters and helped register nearly half a million new voters this year, most of whom state officials believe favor the Democrat. But Virginia remains a state with strong conservative tendencies, and it is unclear whether a majority will pull the lever for a Democrat whom Mr. McCain has derided as having "the most liberal voting record in the United States Senate." A key to a McCain comeback will be whether Republicans have built a strong enough get-out-the-vote operation in a state where none has ever been needed, something many party leaders question.
Hare, Bill. "McCain’s Frantic Scramble: Obama competes on Republican Turf." In Political Cortex, 25 October 2008, http://bit.ly/4zbedo. Brief report on how Obama’s competition in typically red states has thrown McCain campaign into a “frantic scramble”
MacGillis, Alec. "Election 2008: Ground Games." In The Washington Post, 13 October 2008, http://bit.ly/3L9sVz. Transcript of Q&A for MacGillis. Next (related article) is even more in depth.
MacGilis, Alec. "Obama camp relying heavily on ground effort." In Washington Post, 12 Oct 2008, http://bit.ly/5yBYf. Very important, In-depth great examination of the ground game.
Zeleny, Jeff. "Obama battles block by block to get voters to polls." In New York Times, 11 October 2008, http://bit.ly/2lLGUv. Another 2-page piece focused mostly on the campaign workers and the ground game. The outcome of the next three weeks, in neighborhoods across the country, will help answer whether the organizing principles, backed by Mr. Obama’s fund-raising advantage over Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, are made of myth or muscle when it comes to presidential politics.
Shaw, Aaron. "The Obama campaign’s distributed organizing structure." In fringethoughts.wordpress.com, 13 October 2008, http://bit.ly/2q6krq. Short blog entry looking at other reports about the ground game.
_____. "21,000 new Obama ground troops added to Pennsylvania." In mydd.com, 5 October 2008, http://bit.ly/3vK4NO
____. “Obama campaign plans massive ground game.” In Texarkana Gazette, 12 October 2008, http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/WireHeadlines/2008/10/12/obama-campaign-plans-massive-ground-game-86.php
Nail, John. “The astonishing power of Obama’s ground game in Ohio.” In Politicalbase.com, 7 October 2008, http://www.politicalbase.com/profile/jnail/blog/&blogId=4637
“Korg.” “The Obama Ground Game”: a case study in demonstrating decentralized phone banking. In Hannity.com, 16 October 2008, http://forums.hannity.com/showthread.php?t=995961
MacGillis, Alec. “For final push, Obama relying on ground troops.” In Washington Post, 12 October 2008, http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20081012/WIRE/810120460/-1/archive?Title=For_final_push__Obama_relying_on_ground_troops
____. “Scenes from the ground game.” In WTOPNews.com, 11 October 2008, http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=213&sid=1495491
Miller, Kermit. “Obama campaign plans get-out-the-vote effort.” In KRCG, 28 October 2008, http://www.krcg.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=213633
Jveritas. “Obama ground game is greatly over rated.” In Freerepublic.com, 21 October 2008, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2110728/posts
Gorski, Eric. “Analysis: religion used to divide, mock in ’08.” In Associated Press, 31 October 2008, http://bit.ly/24DH1Y.
Quinn, Sean. “On the road: Atlanta, Georgia.” In fivethirtyeight.com, 3 November 2008, http://bit.ly/18DdGN. Adelman credited wunderkind field operator Alex Lofton, now in Ohio, with setting up the infrastructure before he was considered too valuable not to have in a more competitive state. "He opened up all the offices, he trained all the kids, did conference calls twice a day," Adelman explained. "He was 23 and doing things in a way twice his age couldn’t accomplish." Such are Obama’s young brilliant organizers the campaign’s great underwritten story. … "Really, in Georgia, that’s all we needed," Adelman said. "The rest of it was neighbor to neighbor. People needed to see people in their own neighborhood" talking about Barack Obama. "The only place we were hurt was surrogate visits." … First, we learned, Barack Obama has "Comfort Teams," which are all volunteer forces who don’t campaign, but simply bring water, hot chocolate and snacks. "No campaigning, no materials," Adelman said, just making sure the people who have to wait in long lines aren’t hungry or thirsty.
Sargent, Greg. "Obama dramatically out-organizing McCain in Virginia." In Talking Points Memo, 1 November 2008, http://bit.ly/4tvjBP. Notes Washington Post article of amazing detail on two campaign’s organizations in Virginia, that dramatizes why Obama is outperforming in the state.
Exley, Zack. “The new organizers, part 1: what’s really behind Obama’s ground game.” In The Huffington Post, 3 November 2008, http://bit.ly/2K8q8P. “Inside the Obama campaign, almost without anyone noticing, an insurgent generation of organizers has built the Progressive movement a brand new and potentially durable people’s organization, in a dozen states, rooted at the neighborhood level.”
Ognibene, Peter. "The Obama ground game in northern Virginia." In The Huffington Post, 2 November 2008, http://bit.ly/2fLTJ2. Short look from an autobiographical perspective.
Dorgan, Lauren. “On the ground: Obama supporters reach out throughout state; McCain backers focused.” In Concord Monitor, 2 November 2008, http://bit.ly/2coKFS
Silva, Mark. “Obama’s ground game: 770 field offices.” In Fox 59 Indianapolis, ?, http://www.fox59.com/pages/landing/?Obamas-ground-game-770-field-offices=1&blockID=117120&feedID=65