[BTW in case you missed it, VoterMedia.org got some in-depth coverage at The Tyee the other day: A Math Wiz's Idea to Revive Local Journalism]
I recently drafted this proposal -- would appreciate your comments & advice. Summary is below; full 7-page version here.
Newspaper Sponsorship for Municipal VoterMedia
This paper proposes an experiment in political media reform, in which competing newspapers would jointly sponsor a blogging contest to cover a city government and community issues. The goal is to test whether the VoterMedia design for a blog contest will generate enough public interest journalism to make it worthwhile for municipal taxpayers to fund such competitions in the future. This could become a new source of revenue supporting journalism that covers not only cities, but also other voter communities, including democracies and corporations.
To give newspapers a near-term incentive to sponsor (in addition to the long-term incentive of a potential future revenue source), the competing blogs would be required to grant the sponsors non-exclusive rights to publish their blog posts, with attribution and link-back. To simulate a taxpayer-funded competition, entry would be as open as possible, admitting any individual, group, or organization. This would include amateur bloggers and professional journalists, whether free-lance or on staff of a sponsoring (or non-sponsoring) newspaper. So for example, sponsors could enter the competition and try to win some of their money back. The contest should therefore be administered independently from the sponsors.
VoterMedia.org (a nonprofit project) is offering to administer the proposed competition for free, including hosting the voting -- see for example votermedia.org/burnaby. The VoterMedia contest design has been tested and refined for the past five years at the University of British Columbia's student union, and in some municipal elections in Metro Vancouver, Canada. Experimental results at UBC are discussed by participants in video interviews at votermedia.org.
[Complete 7-page proposal here]
Showing posts with label VoterMedia Design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VoterMedia Design. Show all posts
Monday, January 30, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
$1,000 for UBC blogs #amselections
The University of British Columbia's Alma Mater Society is sponsoring a $1,000 VoterMedia blog contest to encourage coverage of their annual elections this month. See:
Thursday, December 29, 2011
VoterMedia as Participatory Budgeting
I'm excited about the possibilities for adding votermedia to the menu in the growing global participatory budgeting (PB) movement. So I drafted this paper and submitted it to the March 2012 International PB Conference in New York City.
Related links:
Related links:
- Wikipedia: Participatory Budgeting
- Global map of PB projects
- The conference in New York will be at the same time as the final vote in the PB in NYC process
Sunday, November 20, 2011
#bcmuni2011 Blog Competition Continues #SurreyBC #Burnaby #NorthVancouver
Congratulations to all participants in yesterday's municipal elections across British Columbia -- candidates, campaigners, media, voters, and election administrators!
It ain't over: The VoterMedia B.C. Municipal blog contests will continue -- rules & (free) entry form here.
When we launched this competition, our plan was to fund each of 5 cities for 50 days x $20 = $1,000. No one entered in West Vancouver or Richmond, so we plan at least to fund the other 3 cities for $1,000 each.
North Vancouver got its first entrants on October 4, so it's funded for 50 days starting then. Last funded day will be November 22.
Surrey will use up its $1,000 on November 29.
Burnaby started later, and will not use up its $1,000 by November 30. As you can see in the rules, we only committed to funding through November 30.
However, we aim to keep the contests going forever in some form, with the goal of encouraging blogger coverage of any issues of interest to the community. So even without funding, the ballots will stay open. New entrants can come in, links will show their blogs & posts, people can vote on them etc. Shares will continue to be calculated daily, but with no funding it will be e.g. 47% of $0 = $0.
There are several possibilities for more funding:
- I might donate some more, and keep it going at $10/day for a while.
- We plan to solicit donations/sponsorships from readers &/or city governments &/or media organizations etc.
So I've updated the contest descriptions on the website to reflect these developments. Will post again here if/when there is more funding.
I welcome any advice, questions etc.
It ain't over: The VoterMedia B.C. Municipal blog contests will continue -- rules & (free) entry form here.
When we launched this competition, our plan was to fund each of 5 cities for 50 days x $20 = $1,000. No one entered in West Vancouver or Richmond, so we plan at least to fund the other 3 cities for $1,000 each.
North Vancouver got its first entrants on October 4, so it's funded for 50 days starting then. Last funded day will be November 22.
Surrey will use up its $1,000 on November 29.
Burnaby started later, and will not use up its $1,000 by November 30. As you can see in the rules, we only committed to funding through November 30.
However, we aim to keep the contests going forever in some form, with the goal of encouraging blogger coverage of any issues of interest to the community. So even without funding, the ballots will stay open. New entrants can come in, links will show their blogs & posts, people can vote on them etc. Shares will continue to be calculated daily, but with no funding it will be e.g. 47% of $0 = $0.
There are several possibilities for more funding:
- I might donate some more, and keep it going at $10/day for a while.
- We plan to solicit donations/sponsorships from readers &/or city governments &/or media organizations etc.
So I've updated the contest descriptions on the website to reflect these developments. Will post again here if/when there is more funding.
I welcome any advice, questions etc.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Should journalists endorse election candidates? #bcmuni2011
My opinion:
Yes, journalists should endorse election candidates. Reasons below. Comments welcomed!
Context:
We are now at the height of the election campaigns for all municipal governments in British Columbia. Voting day is November 19.
VoterMedia.org is sponsoring competitions for blogs covering the elections in Burnaby, Surrey and North Vancouver. (Info & entry form here.)
My reasons:
My main reason is having watched the UBC student union elections for the past 5 years, the endorsements of candidates published by bloggers covering those elections seem to have been helpful information for voters. Voters who did not want to spend much time doing their own research (i.e. most voters), could find well reasoned endorsements to help guide them to choose candidates that would serve the voters' interests well. (Here's an example.)
It's important to note, however, that those 5 years of elections were held in the context of bloggers being rewarded via a VoterMedia system, where voters allocate funds to blogs they found helpful. I designed that system to give journalists a stronger economic incentive to build reputations for serving the voters' interests. Once they have built those reputations, they can endorse candidates without worrying so much that their endorsements will automatically be viewed with suspicion.
Journalists working in other incentive contexts have good reason to worry. There is widespread suspicion (probably justified) that many media organizations have incentives other than the broad public (i.e. voters') interest. For that reason, I think, many excellent journalists avoid endorsing. Many of those who publish endorsements (often non-journalists) are partisan, explicitly or implicitly campaigning on behalf of those they endorse, and often paid for doing so. Perhaps to avoid that taint, some journalists believe they should maintain "objectivity" by not taking sides.
Limits on my opinion:
So perhaps I should limit my opinion to the context of bloggers in VoterMedia competitions. I don't understand the incentives of mainstream media journalists well enough to have a strong opinion for them. And in the VoterMedia context, I should further limit my opinion by emphasizing that this is only my advice to bloggers and voters, but they are free to ignore it. I'm used to having my advice ignored! ;-)
I believe more strongly in freedom of the press and democratic choice by voters than in my own opinions. But I also believe in free speech, so I feel free to express these opinions.
What are your opinions? Express below or by email to mark[at]votermedia.org...
Yes, journalists should endorse election candidates. Reasons below. Comments welcomed!
Context:
We are now at the height of the election campaigns for all municipal governments in British Columbia. Voting day is November 19.
VoterMedia.org is sponsoring competitions for blogs covering the elections in Burnaby, Surrey and North Vancouver. (Info & entry form here.)
My reasons:
My main reason is having watched the UBC student union elections for the past 5 years, the endorsements of candidates published by bloggers covering those elections seem to have been helpful information for voters. Voters who did not want to spend much time doing their own research (i.e. most voters), could find well reasoned endorsements to help guide them to choose candidates that would serve the voters' interests well. (Here's an example.)
It's important to note, however, that those 5 years of elections were held in the context of bloggers being rewarded via a VoterMedia system, where voters allocate funds to blogs they found helpful. I designed that system to give journalists a stronger economic incentive to build reputations for serving the voters' interests. Once they have built those reputations, they can endorse candidates without worrying so much that their endorsements will automatically be viewed with suspicion.
Journalists working in other incentive contexts have good reason to worry. There is widespread suspicion (probably justified) that many media organizations have incentives other than the broad public (i.e. voters') interest. For that reason, I think, many excellent journalists avoid endorsing. Many of those who publish endorsements (often non-journalists) are partisan, explicitly or implicitly campaigning on behalf of those they endorse, and often paid for doing so. Perhaps to avoid that taint, some journalists believe they should maintain "objectivity" by not taking sides.
Limits on my opinion:
So perhaps I should limit my opinion to the context of bloggers in VoterMedia competitions. I don't understand the incentives of mainstream media journalists well enough to have a strong opinion for them. And in the VoterMedia context, I should further limit my opinion by emphasizing that this is only my advice to bloggers and voters, but they are free to ignore it. I'm used to having my advice ignored! ;-)
I believe more strongly in freedom of the press and democratic choice by voters than in my own opinions. But I also believe in free speech, so I feel free to express these opinions.
What are your opinions? Express below or by email to mark[at]votermedia.org...
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
#bcmuni2011 $5k Blog Competition Update #RichmondBC #SurreyBC #Burnaby #NorthVancouver #WestVancouver
There's still time to enter and vote in the 2011 VoterMedia BC Muni Election Blog Competition -- entry form here. We're offering up to $5,000 in awards for blogs covering the November 19 elections in:
Press coverage of this contest:
Press coverage of this contest:
- Burnaby Now 2011-11-09
- Capilano Courier 2011-11-02
- 24 Hours Vancouver 2011-10-13
- North Shore Outlook 2011-10-12
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Media Democracy Days in Vancouver this weekend #MDDVan
Media Democracy Days this weekend, Fri Sat Sun, Nov 11 12 13: Free events but reservations recommended & filling up fast. (Sorry I didn't post this sooner!) Info at mediademocracyday.org.
Panel on The Future of Journalism, Sat Nov 12 1pm-2:20pm at Vancouver Public Library main branch (Alice MacKay Room) is very timely since top B.C. independent political journalist Sean Holman just gave up blogging for lack of $ -- see Tyee article & my comment. Great panellists:
DAVID BEERS is founding editor of The Tyee. He has won national awards for his journalism in Canada and the United States, writing for The Globe and Mail, Vancouver Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, and many other publications. He edited the “Fate of the Strait” environmental series for the Vancouver Sun, which received Canada’s National Newspaper Award for Special Projects.
PETER KLEIN began his career as a radio reporter for National Public Radio, covering the Bosnian war and the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. In 1999 Klein joined CBS News’ 60 Minutes as a producer remains a contributor to the program. Klein joined the faculty of UBC in 2005, and in 2008 he launched the International Reporting Program, Among other prestigious awards, his 2010 class’ Frontline/WORLD documentary, Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground, earned him an Emmy for best investigative newsmagazine.
CHARLIE SMITH has been editor of the Georgia Straight for six years. Before that, he was the news editor at the Straight for 10 years. He has also worked at CBC Radio and CBC TV and taught investigative journalism at Kwantlen Polytechnic University for seven years back in the days when it was known as Kwantlen University College. These days, most of his writing appears on Straight.com, but some find its way into the print edition.
KAREN PINCHIN is the founding editor of OpenFile Vancouver, a community-powered collaborative news website. She has reported and edited for The Canadian Press, Maclean’s and Newsweek, and freelanced for outlets including The Globe and Mail and The Walrus.
& moderator:
LINDA SOLOMON is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Vancouver Observer, which was the winner of the 2010 Canadian Online Publishing Awards for “Best online-only articles” and took second place in “Best overall online-only site”. She is also the founder and director of The Vancouver New Media Foundation and is CEO of Observer Media Group. Linda was the recipient of the United Press International award for Best Investigative Reporting.
Panel on The Future of Journalism, Sat Nov 12 1pm-2:20pm at Vancouver Public Library main branch (Alice MacKay Room) is very timely since top B.C. independent political journalist Sean Holman just gave up blogging for lack of $ -- see Tyee article & my comment. Great panellists:
DAVID BEERS is founding editor of The Tyee. He has won national awards for his journalism in Canada and the United States, writing for The Globe and Mail, Vancouver Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, and many other publications. He edited the “Fate of the Strait” environmental series for the Vancouver Sun, which received Canada’s National Newspaper Award for Special Projects.
PETER KLEIN began his career as a radio reporter for National Public Radio, covering the Bosnian war and the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. In 1999 Klein joined CBS News’ 60 Minutes as a producer remains a contributor to the program. Klein joined the faculty of UBC in 2005, and in 2008 he launched the International Reporting Program, Among other prestigious awards, his 2010 class’ Frontline/WORLD documentary, Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground, earned him an Emmy for best investigative newsmagazine.
CHARLIE SMITH has been editor of the Georgia Straight for six years. Before that, he was the news editor at the Straight for 10 years. He has also worked at CBC Radio and CBC TV and taught investigative journalism at Kwantlen Polytechnic University for seven years back in the days when it was known as Kwantlen University College. These days, most of his writing appears on Straight.com, but some find its way into the print edition.
KAREN PINCHIN is the founding editor of OpenFile Vancouver, a community-powered collaborative news website. She has reported and edited for The Canadian Press, Maclean’s and Newsweek, and freelanced for outlets including The Globe and Mail and The Walrus.
& moderator:
LINDA SOLOMON is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Vancouver Observer, which was the winner of the 2010 Canadian Online Publishing Awards for “Best online-only articles” and took second place in “Best overall online-only site”. She is also the founder and director of The Vancouver New Media Foundation and is CEO of Observer Media Group. Linda was the recipient of the United Press International award for Best Investigative Reporting.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
New video: Mainstream Media vs Voter Media
Today we released a new video at votermedia.org: Mainstream Media vs Voter Media.
In it, UBC students discuss how VoterMedia (= voter funded media = VFM) provides healthy competition to the University of British Columbia's established student newspaper, The Ubyssey.
"...does VFM work for students? I think yes. Does it increase campus discussion and student engagement? I think absolutely. Does it ensure that established media does a better job? Yeah. And are students and is this campus better off because of that? Well, absolutely." (Justin McElroy, Coordinating Editor, The Ubyssey)
In it, UBC students discuss how VoterMedia (= voter funded media = VFM) provides healthy competition to the University of British Columbia's established student newspaper, The Ubyssey.
"...does VFM work for students? I think yes. Does it increase campus discussion and student engagement? I think absolutely. Does it ensure that established media does a better job? Yeah. And are students and is this campus better off because of that? Well, absolutely." (Justin McElroy, Coordinating Editor, The Ubyssey)
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
#ubcvotes #votermedia contest results
Voting ended last Friday (March 25) in the EUS-AUS-SUS rep elections and their 1-time votermedia contest. Two votermedia contestants were disqualified under rule #6 for insufficient election coverage. The remaining three won these awards:
- UBC Insiders: 38% x $1500 = $570
- AMS Confidential: 36% x $1500 = $540
- 11' Eleven": 26% x $1500 = $390
Congratulations and thank you for helping voters with your insight!
If you'd like to see the detailed vote tallies and award calculations, they're in this spreadsheet. More info on the algorithm here.
- UBC Insiders: 38% x $1500 = $570
- AMS Confidential: 36% x $1500 = $540
- 11' Eleven": 26% x $1500 = $390
Congratulations and thank you for helping voters with your insight!
If you'd like to see the detailed vote tallies and award calculations, they're in this spreadsheet. More info on the algorithm here.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
#ubcvotes #votermedia contestants & rules update
We now have 5 contestants in the EUS-AUS-SUS rep elections 1-time votermedia contest:
- UBC Insiders
- AMS Confidential
- 11' Eleven"
- The Syrup Trap
- Radical Beer Tribune
Info for voters.
We are still accepting new entries -- more info here.
Rules update: We have added a 40% option to the votable shares menu. So rule #5 is now:
The award calculation algorithm will be Interpolated Consensus in 2% steps, with spread parameter = 8 as we have been doing in all Continuous VoterMedia ballots since February 15. Info on the spread parameter here and here.
- UBC Insiders
- AMS Confidential
- 11' Eleven"
- The Syrup Trap
- Radical Beer Tribune
Info for voters.
We are still accepting new entries -- more info here.
Rules update: We have added a 40% option to the votable shares menu. So rule #5 is now:
5. The planned total award pool is $1500, and voting menu options are 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40%.
The award calculation algorithm will be Interpolated Consensus in 2% steps, with spread parameter = 8 as we have been doing in all Continuous VoterMedia ballots since February 15. Info on the spread parameter here and here.
Monday, March 7, 2011
UBC continuous #votermedia award calculations suspended pending login system upgrade
We're finding that the non-automated voter registration system is too cumbersome, resulting in low participation rates. This is especially a problem for the UBC AMS funded ballot, because it tends to give award calculation results that do not fairly reflect an AMS community consensus. So we're putting the UBC AMS continuous votermedia award calculations on hold until we finish automating our registration and login system.
A better login system has long been needed and often requested for continuous votermedia. For the past few months we have been giving priority to building an automated system, including giving users the option of logging in via Facebook. It's taking longer than expected, but we're getting close.
In spite of the weaknesses of the no-login system we've been using for the past year or so, we have managed to produce reasonably meaningful award allocations so far. But 2 weeks ago I noticed an apparent hacking attempt from Europe, so I discussed with my AMS liaison (the Student Activities Committee Vice-Chair) that we probably need to implement a manual voter registration system temporarily, so as to keep the award results meaningful. We phased that in the following week, but it turns out to be too cumbersome to attract enough voters so far, so it can't produce meaningful results either. Hence the decision to suspend until the automatic system is implemented.
Meanwhile, the three UBC undergrad societies (Arts, Engineering and Science) are sponsoring a $1500 votermedia contest on their election ballot using UBC's Webvote platform, which uses the Campus-Wide Login (CWL) system. So it is secure enough to work well, and I'm working with them to make the contest successful. See more info in this earlier post.
A better login system has long been needed and often requested for continuous votermedia. For the past few months we have been giving priority to building an automated system, including giving users the option of logging in via Facebook. It's taking longer than expected, but we're getting close.
In spite of the weaknesses of the no-login system we've been using for the past year or so, we have managed to produce reasonably meaningful award allocations so far. But 2 weeks ago I noticed an apparent hacking attempt from Europe, so I discussed with my AMS liaison (the Student Activities Committee Vice-Chair) that we probably need to implement a manual voter registration system temporarily, so as to keep the award results meaningful. We phased that in the following week, but it turns out to be too cumbersome to attract enough voters so far, so it can't produce meaningful results either. Hence the decision to suspend until the automatic system is implemented.
Meanwhile, the three UBC undergrad societies (Arts, Engineering and Science) are sponsoring a $1500 votermedia contest on their election ballot using UBC's Webvote platform, which uses the Campus-Wide Login (CWL) system. So it is secure enough to work well, and I'm working with them to make the contest successful. See more info in this earlier post.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Login system for #votermedia
By popular demand, we are finally implementing a better login system for the votermedia.org website. Voter registration works by email for now; we plan to upgrade soon to an automated system.
Anyone can still browse the website to see blog rankings, recent posts, past awards and other info. The main practical impact will be that a login is now required for voting on funded competitions like votermedia.org/ubc.
Anyone can still browse the website to see blog rankings, recent posts, past awards and other info. The main practical impact will be that a login is now required for voting on funded competitions like votermedia.org/ubc.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
UBC continuous #votermedia changes
As explained in this post a week ago, yesterday we increased the "spread" parameter in the UBC Continuous VoterMedia contest from 1 to 4. This is designed to enhance competition at all award share levels, and especially to make it easier for less-known blogs to get started and get some funding.
You can see the effects of the change (effective as of the 2011-02-08 shares) on the sequence of past shares at votermedia.org/ubc/horserace. (But keep in mind that some votes come in each day, so that has an effect too. Also shares are determined in 1% increments, so there is a slight effect of rounding off.)
You can see the effects of the change (effective as of the 2011-02-08 shares) on the sequence of past shares at votermedia.org/ubc/horserace. (But keep in mind that some votes come in each day, so that has an effect too. Also shares are determined in 1% increments, so there is a slight effect of rounding off.)
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Continuous #votermedia relaunched!
UBC AMS has reactivated funding for its Continuous VoterMedia (CVM) contest at votermedia.org/ubc. The blog award pool is now $40/day; they plan to continue this through April 30, then lower it to $10/day through August 31. You can track the award series at votermedia.org/ubc/horserace.
The contest is also reopened for new entries -- see votermedia.org/ubcentry. AMS Council has approved these new contest rules, including:
To encourage more competition and diversity among blogs, the SAC Vice-Chair has approved the following implementation of proposals I made in this post:
This will smooth out the "progressive tax rate" on blog votes as a function of share%. There's more detail in my earlier post, but below is a brief comparison. [Remember that each blog is supported by the number of (interpolated) votes above their current share%, and the required number of supporting votes is chosen so that share%'s total 100%.]
With the previous 30% cap and 10% interpolation interval, UBC Insiders at their recent 30% share has a tax rate of 50% (being half way through the interpolation) -- only half of their votes for 30% are being counted; AMS Confidential at 31% is taxed at 60% -- only 40% of their votes for 30% are being counted.
Now that the votable cap is 40%, let's suppose that all the 30% voters change their votes to 40%. [Actually some may not, and those that do change will take some time to do so.] So suppose there are no votes for 30%. Consider a blog with a current share of 33.333%. A spread parameter of 8 would discount the votes (for 40%) by dividing the number of votes by 8 to the power 0.33333, which is 2 -- so a tax rate of 50%, the same rate UBC Insiders are facing now. The interim (Feb. 8 through Feb. 14) spread parameter of 4 would discount votes by 4 to the power 0.33333, or about 1.6 -- a tax rate of about 37%.
The idea is to give the top blogs more upside potential if they work harder, while still facing tax rates progressive enough to give opportunity to several other blogs working their way up to becoming known. The new tax rates phase in much more gradually than before.
Unlike the "floating cap" system I outlined in my ealier post, the UBC AMS ballot will keep its cap at 40% for now. That will mean double taxation if a share goes above 35%. But I will probably recommend letting the cap float in the summer, when funding drops to $10/day and there may only be enough news to justify a couple of active blogs.
I thank everyone at the AMS who helped get CVM going again, especially Legislative Procedures Committee Chair Iggy Rodriguez and Student Activities Committee Vice-Chair Alannah Johnston. Let's keep monitoring and improving VoterMedia to maximize the benefit to UBC students!
Your comments are invited as always...
The contest is also reopened for new entries -- see votermedia.org/ubcentry. AMS Council has approved these new contest rules, including:
- Minimum 40% UBC-related content.
- Council members may not participate in the contest.
- Blog Editor's name must be submitted but need not be made public.
- "The SAC Vice-Chair may also impose penalties up to and including removal from the contest for the publication of content that the Vice-Chair deems to be libellous, offensive, a violation of personal privacy, or a violation of Society policies on confidentiality."
- Funding shall be established each year in the AMS budget [likewise for 1-time VoterMedia].
To encourage more competition and diversity among blogs, the SAC Vice-Chair has approved the following implementation of proposals I made in this post:
- Raise the cap on votable shares from 30% to 40% (effective today).
- Raise the "spread" parameter from 1 to 4 (effective Feb. 8).
- Raise the "spread" parameter from 4 to 8 (effective Feb. 15).
This will smooth out the "progressive tax rate" on blog votes as a function of share%. There's more detail in my earlier post, but below is a brief comparison. [Remember that each blog is supported by the number of (interpolated) votes above their current share%, and the required number of supporting votes is chosen so that share%'s total 100%.]
With the previous 30% cap and 10% interpolation interval, UBC Insiders at their recent 30% share has a tax rate of 50% (being half way through the interpolation) -- only half of their votes for 30% are being counted; AMS Confidential at 31% is taxed at 60% -- only 40% of their votes for 30% are being counted.
Now that the votable cap is 40%, let's suppose that all the 30% voters change their votes to 40%. [Actually some may not, and those that do change will take some time to do so.] So suppose there are no votes for 30%. Consider a blog with a current share of 33.333%. A spread parameter of 8 would discount the votes (for 40%) by dividing the number of votes by 8 to the power 0.33333, which is 2 -- so a tax rate of 50%, the same rate UBC Insiders are facing now. The interim (Feb. 8 through Feb. 14) spread parameter of 4 would discount votes by 4 to the power 0.33333, or about 1.6 -- a tax rate of about 37%.
The idea is to give the top blogs more upside potential if they work harder, while still facing tax rates progressive enough to give opportunity to several other blogs working their way up to becoming known. The new tax rates phase in much more gradually than before.
Unlike the "floating cap" system I outlined in my ealier post, the UBC AMS ballot will keep its cap at 40% for now. That will mean double taxation if a share goes above 35%. But I will probably recommend letting the cap float in the summer, when funding drops to $10/day and there may only be enough news to justify a couple of active blogs.
I thank everyone at the AMS who helped get CVM going again, especially Legislative Procedures Committee Chair Iggy Rodriguez and Student Activities Committee Vice-Chair Alannah Johnston. Let's keep monitoring and improving VoterMedia to maximize the benefit to UBC students!
Your comments are invited as always...
Sunday, January 23, 2011
UBC 1-time #votermedia results & calculations [#amselections]
Congrats to all participants in the UBC AMS elections that ended yesterday! It got messy at times, but ended with a success for democracy, it seems to me.
- Results for elections & votermedia
- Detailed vote counts
If you'd like to see how we calculate the voter media awards from the vote counts, see this spreadsheet. In words, we find a cutoff number of votes that will allocate the exact total $2000 award pool, when we award each contestant the amount of money supported by that many votes for that amount or higher. (Well, the spreadsheet is coded in terms of percentiles counting up from $0 instead of votes counting down from the top, but it comes to the same thing.)
One extra wrinkle is that we interpolate the votes. Voting is in $125 increments, but we wanted to calculate awards in $25 increments. So (for example) a vote for $250 is treated as 1/5 of a vote for each of these amounts: $200, $225, $250, $275, $300. (Votes for $0 are not interpolated.) The spreadsheet first shows what the awards would have been without interpolation (easier to follow), and then the actual awards with interpolation.
Last year's AMS 1-time votermedia contest had 4 times as much funding -- $8000. So all the increments were 4 times the size -- see spreadsheet.
Comparing the two years' results, I think UBC students "get" votermedia better this year, making awards that correspond more with the quality of the blogs. For example, Radical Beer Tribune did not place first the way it did last year when most observers found that odd.
The above results are for the 1-time VoterMedia (1VM) contests on the annual AMS elections ballot. We also have Continuous VoterMedia (CVM) running year-round on this ballot.
[See also Twitter: #votermedia OR #amselections]
- Results for elections & votermedia
- Detailed vote counts
If you'd like to see how we calculate the voter media awards from the vote counts, see this spreadsheet. In words, we find a cutoff number of votes that will allocate the exact total $2000 award pool, when we award each contestant the amount of money supported by that many votes for that amount or higher. (Well, the spreadsheet is coded in terms of percentiles counting up from $0 instead of votes counting down from the top, but it comes to the same thing.)
One extra wrinkle is that we interpolate the votes. Voting is in $125 increments, but we wanted to calculate awards in $25 increments. So (for example) a vote for $250 is treated as 1/5 of a vote for each of these amounts: $200, $225, $250, $275, $300. (Votes for $0 are not interpolated.) The spreadsheet first shows what the awards would have been without interpolation (easier to follow), and then the actual awards with interpolation.
Last year's AMS 1-time votermedia contest had 4 times as much funding -- $8000. So all the increments were 4 times the size -- see spreadsheet.
Comparing the two years' results, I think UBC students "get" votermedia better this year, making awards that correspond more with the quality of the blogs. For example, Radical Beer Tribune did not place first the way it did last year when most observers found that odd.
The above results are for the 1-time VoterMedia (1VM) contests on the annual AMS elections ballot. We also have Continuous VoterMedia (CVM) running year-round on this ballot.
[See also Twitter: #votermedia OR #amselections]
Monday, January 10, 2011
Enter the $2000 UBC AMS Elections VoterMedia Contest
The annual election campaign at the University of British Columbia's Alma Mater Society starts today! In addition to their Continuous VoterMedia blog contest ballot at votermedia.org/ubc, they are having the usual 1-time "Elections VoterMedia Contest". Entry deadline is this Friday, January 14 -- info here.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
New video: What Is VoterMedia?
We just released a new video at votermedia.org, entitled "What Is VoterMedia?"
In it, students at the University of British Columbia explain that votermedia is a system for rewarding bloggers who inform students about their student union, elections and other issues that matter to their community. "...it’s an innovative incentive structure to encourage independent media to develop and to flourish and to cover events in their local communities." (-- Alex Lougheed)
Thank you to all who contributed to this!
In it, students at the University of British Columbia explain that votermedia is a system for rewarding bloggers who inform students about their student union, elections and other issues that matter to their community. "...it’s an innovative incentive structure to encourage independent media to develop and to flourish and to cover events in their local communities." (-- Alex Lougheed)
Thank you to all who contributed to this!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Changing votermedia.org spread parameter
As discussed in my previous post, I'm changing the way we spread the wealth among competing bloggers. Until this change, we have been capping the menus of votable shares, e.g. to max 30% shares when there are at least 5 competing blogs.
For all communities except UBC, five days ago I let the caps "float" so as to stay at least 5% above the top blog's share.
This evening I'm phasing in the other half of our new spread-the-wealth system, which is a kind of "progressive income tax" on vote counts as a function of %share -- see previous post for details.
The "spread" parameter will change from 1.0 to 4.0 as of the tallies calculated tonight, which for North American time zones will mean starting with the award shares dated 2010-12-15 in the "horserace" pages.
I'll monitor the results, and if they seem good then I'll recommend a similar change for UBC.
Your comments invited!
For all communities except UBC, five days ago I let the caps "float" so as to stay at least 5% above the top blog's share.
This evening I'm phasing in the other half of our new spread-the-wealth system, which is a kind of "progressive income tax" on vote counts as a function of %share -- see previous post for details.
The "spread" parameter will change from 1.0 to 4.0 as of the tallies calculated tonight, which for North American time zones will mean starting with the award shares dated 2010-12-15 in the "horserace" pages.
I'll monitor the results, and if they seem good then I'll recommend a similar change for UBC.
Your comments invited!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Spreading the wealth among competing blogs
Thinking some more about the votermedia award algorithm change I made on November 22, I think we should make a more sweeping change to further enhance competition among blogs. Changing the interpolation range from 5% to 10% does encourage the top blogs to compete with each other more, but it still leaves the maximum vote ceiling as an overly firm limit.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Locust or Bumblebee raises votermedia design issues
This morning I received an application for the blog Locust or Bumblebee to enter the UBC AMS votermedia contest. This raises some big issues about the design and administration of votermedia – hence the long post below.
Locust or Bumblebee is an impressive blog promoting sustainability, created by UBC students Anthony Stal and Sam Wempe:
This entry poses a challenge for votermedia.org, because we have not yet built a login system that identifies whether a voter is a member of the community they are voting on. The lack of login is not a serious problem as long as the blogs listed on a community's ballot appeal primarily to members of that community. But if a blog attracts many voters from outside the community, then award funds may be directed in ways that the funding community may not want.
Locust or Bumblebee is an impressive blog promoting sustainability, created by UBC students Anthony Stal and Sam Wempe:
"Through this gateway we hope to inform Vancouver’s populations of the decisions and activities occurring around them that negatively affect them, the environment, or even some distant population. ... Once we gain a larger readership in Vancouver, we hope to spread to other cities around the world."
This entry poses a challenge for votermedia.org, because we have not yet built a login system that identifies whether a voter is a member of the community they are voting on. The lack of login is not a serious problem as long as the blogs listed on a community's ballot appeal primarily to members of that community. But if a blog attracts many voters from outside the community, then award funds may be directed in ways that the funding community may not want.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
