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| GJ prototype Issue1 #136436 Public is given a voice; scientists are included in the loop; good journalism becomes empowered by a whole KW ecosystem, powered by new technology. The result is an alert, intelligent and knowledgeable collective mind, as contemporary society might need it. | Initial systemic solution for good journalism  Ramon Sangüesa summarized the results of BCN2011 by using the ideogram consisting of a ‘vertical infinity’ (drawn as number ‘8’) and a butterfly in its center. Ramon’s original drawing consisted of three such ‘vertical infinities’ placed within one another, concentrically around the butterfly. They represented the three ‘layers’ of our systemic solution that will be described next. The first of them is the systemic solution for good journalism.
The bottom loop of the ‘vertical infinity’ ideogram implements the conventional ‘good journalism’ function – the phenomenological, the whistle-blowing... Something disturbing is happening that needs to be given attention. But here this function is supported by citizen journalism. The Wikidiario project (Wikidiario.info) that Xavier Mas de Xaxas initiated in Barcelona is already in place, implementing this function. Wikidiario gives the citizens a voice; they no longer depend on the journalist discovering the problem, and the editor giving a green light; the cirtizens are empowered to put their concerns into the public space.
The lower loop also includes a currator and a sensemaking function, implemented with the help of DebateGraph (see below), which has been developed for this purpose. Here both the ‘crowd’ and the journalists may have a role. Especially relevant reports may be highlighted; distinct reports may be connected and shown to be related.
The butterfly image in the ideogram was suggested by Mei Lin Fung. It represents the ‘butterfly effect’ in Chaos Theory, (a butterfly flapping its wings causing a storm in a distant place is a metaphor for a small change in one place in a non-linear system being able to cause a large effect in another place or later in time). Hence the lower loop of the journalism ecosystem is designed in such a way that a citizen report may become a ‘butterfly’ spinning off an avalanche reaction.
If, however, this lower loop would be all that journalism has to offer, we would miss the possibility of perceiving and handling the systemic causes, as already mentioned. In the upper loop the relevant lower-loop phenomena are brought to the attention of knowledge workers who are capable of perceiving and understanding their systemic causes (economists, sociologists...). This includes academic researchers, but also everyone else (the public). Hence in the upper loop the citizens’ problems are brought to the attention of experts (systemically, they are sponsored by taxpayers to provide relevant knowledge) ; the expertise that exists in academic communities is brought to bear directly upon the current public concerns. The result here is first of all an explanation of a systemic cause. This cause may be as simple as an incompetent or corrupt municipal bureaucrat; or it can be a much larger systemic dysfunction, for ex. of the financial system as mentioned above.
In the upper loop, the systemic insights are not only created, but also empowered; already by placing an insight on the Web, and linking it with related academic and other results, and allowing everyone to comment (does anyone out there have a counter-argument?) an insight can be given the sort of credibility that can enable the journalist to place it into public space, with confidence, and without personal risk.
Academic explanations of systemic causes, however, will not be sufficient for most practical purposes. To have an effect, they will have to be translated into something that the public can understand and relate to. Furthermore, suitable systemic leverage points (what can be done to transform the dysfunctional systemic component) need to be found, and again translated into something the public can understand – for ex. a media report, told by a story and a camera. Here again traditional good journalism talents will be instrumental.
Here is an ad-hoc example: Norwegian Even Westvang has created the following visualization on Vimeo to show migration patterns of Norwegians – split across income and other categories. I cam imagine a similar animation showing the migration of dollars (...).
Hence the upper loop too ends with a butterfly, which is in this case a systemic leverage point, and the action that needs to be done to make the desired systemic change – which is a real solution to perceived problems.
In the 'textbook example' version of the prototype, the WE ARE THE 99% blog plays the role of the What part; Ferguson's documentary [http://www.sonyclassics.com/insidejob/ Inside Job] or Joel Bakan's documentary The Corporation might illustrate a possible result of the Why part; joining the political action to abolish corporate personhood (by a new constitutional amendment) might be the What part (the leverage point).
The initial solution just described is now being described and developed in detail, and implemented as the Knowledge Federation Media Channel. The DebateGraph is used for the currator and the sensemaking role; the Induct Software (see below) is used for orchestrating the transition to the systemic part.
The over-all initial solution highlights the following advantages of systemic innovation by knowledge federation as applied to journalism:
- citizens are not passive recipients of media information; they are given a voice, and empowered to participate directly in pointing at problems and discovering solutions;
- academic researchers, and academic knowledge, are no longer isolated in their disciplinary ‘silos;’ they are being placed into the loop where they can directly bear upon the public understanding of relevant issues, including perceived problems and their systemic causes and solutions;
- journalists are no longer in the situation of filling up the columns of the press on their own, which naturally leads to sensationalism (truly relevant, and especially systemic insights are much more difficult to get a hold of); their work is supported by the public on one side, and by the researchers on the other; they can put into the media highly potent systemic insights, pointing at the need and the possibility for systemic change, because those are no longer their own claims, but public insights verified by a reliable, carefully constructed knowledge-work ecosystem, which includes leading experts;
- everyone else – artists, film makers, writers... can join this loop, and contribute directly to the functioning of the ‘collective mind;
- this solution integrates (or better said - federates) the main components of knowledge work to compose a coherent, well-functioning ‘collective mind.’
Even Westvang's "Deluge" on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/36154005
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