[EM] Democracy Chronicles, introductions - Michael Allan

[Michael Allan]

Hello Adrian and all,  Here are my particulars:

  * BSc. Biological Sciences. University of Guelph, 1992.
  * Certificate in Computer Programming.  Ryerson Polytechnic
    University.  Toronto, 1995.
  * Independent sofware engineer, living in Toronto.
  * Working in collaborative and social media.  Primarily on project
    Votorola since 2007, previously on project textbender.
  * Discussed 'the "meaning" of a vote (or lack thereof)' with Warren
    Smith.  My critique of the proposed reforms was elaborated in that
    and subsequent discussions, all of which are indexed here:
    http://zelea.com/project/autonomy/a/fau/fau.xht#H

Please let me know if you need additional information.  Best to all,
-- 
Michael Allan

Toronto, +1 416-699-9528
http://zelea.com/


Richard Fobes said:
> Adrian Tawfik at Democracy Chronicles requested that I supply him with 
> an introduction to myself for the article that contains my answers to 
> his interview questions.  I'm thinking that everyone else who also 
> answered his interview questions will need to supply an introduction, 
> and I figure that all of us will want to elaborate on the brief comment 
> that appears next to our name on the Declaration.  As long as we are 
> writing introductions that will be published, we might as well also use 
> the opportunity to learn more about each other, and share ideas about 
> what to write.  Plus, if any of us includes a statement that defies the 
> principles of mathematics, such an error can be pointed out prior to 
> publication.
> 
> With that in mind, here is my suggestion for an introductory paragraph 
> about me:
> 
> -------- begin intro --------
> 
> Richard Fobes, who has a degree in physics (and whose last name rhymes 
> with robes), became involved with election-method reform when he 
> realized, while writing his book titled "The Creative Problem Solver's 
> Toolbox" [link], that most of the world's problems can be solved, but 
> the current voting methods used throughout the world are so primitive 
> that citizens are unable to elect the problem-solving leaders they want. 
> That insight motivated him to spend time over the last two decades 
> developing -- including writing open-source software for -- a system of 
> voting methods that he calls "VoteFair ranking." The core of the system 
> is VoteFair popularity ranking, which is mathematically equivalent to 
> the Condorcet-Kemeny method, which is one of the methods supported by 
> the "Declaration of Election-Method Reform Advocates."
> 
> At his VoteFair.org [link] website, Fobes offers a free service of 
> calculating VoteFair ranking results, and a number of organizations have 
> used the service to elect their officers. The only people who have 
> objected to the results have been incumbents who failed to get reelected.
> 
> At that site Fobes also hosts an American Idol poll that allows fans of 
> the TV show to rank the show's singers according to who is their 
> favorite, who is their second favorite, and so on down to who they like 
> the least, and the calculations reveal the overall ranking. Based on the 
> results, Fobes writes commentaries that anticipate and explain so-called 
> "surprise" results in terms of important voting concepts, especially 
> vote splitting, vote concentration, and strategic voting.
> 
> -------- end intro --------