The launch version of the Collaboratorium enables members of the Community to vote in two ways:
- Plans
Members of the Community can select which plan to address climate change they believe is best.
- User posts
They can also vote on posts in argument maps, to indicate that they believe a particular post is useful and/or insightful.
Future versions of the Collaboratorium may incorporate other mechanisms for enabling group decision making:
- Identification of expert opinion
In selected areas, the votes and comments of certified experts could be shown separately from the votes and comments of Community members as a whole. For example, the votes and comments of client scientists could be shown separately in sections of the system where their perspectives may be especially valuable or relevant.
- Rating
Ratings of the prior votes and posts of Community members may be incorporated to allow the Community to identify which users are the most credible.
- Proxy voting
In proxy voting, Community members can assign their vote on particular issues to a party of their choosing. For example, a Community member might assign their vote on issues related to climate modeling to the IPCC and their vote on issues related to policy to USCAP. Proxy voting is a variation of representative democracy, with voters choosing whichever representative they wish and representation occurring at as fine-grained a level as voters wish.
- Belief aggregation
This method is used to gauge user’s support for particular plans or particular positions in debates.
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