[EM] Publication suggestions for Declaration

[Richard Fobes]

In cleaning up past Election Method messages I see that this suggestion 
from Ralph Suter was not answered.  He suggests including in our 
Declaration a list of suggested actions that can be done by people in 
various (non-government-election?) situations to help adopt our 
recommended better-than-plurality methods.  That list has been a part of 
the declaration for some time.  I included such actions in the draft I 
wrote, and Jameson Quinn has nicely refined those suggested actions.

I think the Declaration is done.  I don't know what Jameson's plans are 
for the next step.  I suggest at least posting the latest version to 
this forum because it has been refined significantly since it was last 
posted here.  (I can do so if requested, yet I don't want to interfere 
with any plans that Jameson has in mind.)

Richard Fobes

On 9/13/2011 1:26 PM, Ralph Suter wrote:
> Another option that would require more planning and work but could
> attract much more attention and have a vastly greater long-term as well
> as short-term impact would be to distribute a news release (possibly
> with the donated help of a good PR firm with experience in news release
> writing and distribution - ideally, to both US and international print
> and online news outlets) announcing the declaration and inviting the
> publication of stories derived from the release as well as stories
> involving additional reporting and interviews.
>
> To increase the impact of such a release, it would help if the
> declaration included well-thought-out concrete steps that interested
> readers could take to help the cause of improving methods used in real
> world public elections and other kinds of collective decisionmaking
> activities. Suggested steps could include ones involving contributions
> of money as well as time to specific activities and programs, including
> ones that don't yet exist (such as proposed research and promotional
> efforts and organizations) as well as existing ones - everything from
> lists like this one that people could join to already established
> programs and organizations that people could join or support.
>
> If distributed this way, the declaration could attract not only much
> more attention but could attract the attention of individuals and
> organizations (foundations and other kinds) that may be interested in
> and able to contribute significant funding to efforts to develop and
> promote improved election methods.
>
> If there is support for the idea of such a news release, I suggest
> taking a little more time to develop a list of existing and potential
> activities, programs, and organizations to include in the declaration or
> (if the list becomes too extensive for that) in an appendix to the
> declaration.
>
> -Ralph Suter
>
> On 9/13/2011, Jameson Quinn wrote:
>
>> The suggestion has come from Warren Smith. His steps are (Warren,
>> correct me
>> if I'm wrong):
>>
>> 1. Write a version of the declaration suitable for publication as an
>> editorial of an academic journal.
>>
>> 2. Get it published, preferably (quasi) simultaneously, by a few small
>> journals.
>>
>> 3. Go to the journal Science, which published a lower-quality
>> editorial in
>> 2001, and use that fact to get them to publish it.
>>
>> I support this plan, as well as all of Richard's suggestions, but it is a
>> significant amount of work, and by no means a sure thing.
>>
>> Jameson Quinn
>>
>> 2011/9/13 Richard Fobes<ElectionMethods at votefair.org>
>>
>>> > On 9/11/2011 8:19 PM, St?phane Rouillon wrote:
>>> >
>>>> >>
>>>> >> When and where will the declaration be published?
>>>> >>
>>> >
>>> > This declaration project was started by Jameson Quinn, and I'm not
>>> sure
>>> > what he has in mind for publishing, and currently he may be busy
>>> monitoring
>>> > the Guatemalan election results,
>>
>> Well, aside from the war criminal coming in first place (on youtube
>> you can
>> see an old 80s documentary where admits genocide and a subordinate
>> implicates him in torture and perhaps murder of prisoners), the most
>> notable
>> result was the over 12% of blank/spoiled votes. That's obviously
>> intentional; it's over a third of the first place result, over half of
>> the
>> second place one, and more than the (sizable) margin between them.
> ----
> Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info