[pp.int.general] A PPI Announcement

[Mikko Särelä]

On Sat, 11 Jul 2009, Amelia Andersdotter wrote:
> My analysis of the communication problem (from a Swedish perspective) 
> is: -even international coordinators can't get a good view of what is 
> happening in their national party. Too much is going on, or enough 
> structured internal communication channels inside the party don't exist.

> Therefore, what the PPI needs is to define _what_ information the PPI 
> needs.

May I suggest that we need a wiki. Of all the tools I have used in my 
life, the only one really successful for international coordination, has 
been wiki (well, aside from cvs like versioning system which probably 
isn't the right tool for us). 

I noticed that the international pirate party page does not contain a wiki 
link. (I also noticed that there was a mention somewhere to a wiki that 
does not respond). 


The reason why I advocate wiki is that it is a great tool for 
collaborative writing of textual database that people wish to refer to 
even far into the future. The difference to a forum is huge - in forums 
old discussions vanish to bit heaven and no one has the time to read years 
old long discussions. In wiki, the writers will need to find a common way 
of expressing mutual things and disagreements. 

The main reason why I advocate wiki, is that many people can contribute a 
little in various ways and it keeps growing and becoming better. It is 
easy to start contributing and it is a great place for both static and 
(relatively) dynamic content. 

What does the international pirate party need? 

It, firstly, needs a well written collection of documents, which have 
pointers to all the technical resources that are available to new (and 
old) pirate parties. Secondly, it needs up-to-date information about the 
successes of pirate parties. Thirdly, it needs information about various 
methods that people have tried to gain a following, proven good or proven 
disastrous. 

PPI should help everyone achieve and help us retain enough cohesion so 
that we can drive these issues together, globally. Think global, act 
global. 

In my opinion, PPI should focus on making sure each and every pirate party 
can copy each other as much as possible. We already have a common logo, 
the pirate sail. We could have a common web-layout (that people could 
modify to their needs), lots of pictures, stories, and other material that 
helps every pirate party activist in their every day political life. 

And finally, we could have people publish articles and books and encourage 
people to translate them. 

Concrete and idealistic is what I would like the PPI to show. Concrete, to 
show each and every activist that the PPI brings him benefits and concrete 
in the sense that it offers simple ways to contribute. 

As an example, I been told that the Finnish pirate party has a 
pretty well maintained server which also others can use, if they so wish. 
We will also, pretty soon, have a member database which could be useful 
for others. Many pirate parties have members who are professional web 
designers, coders, techies, people with all kinds of special knowledge. 
Some of them are willing to help in the area of their expertise. 

If we had the wiki, we could have a list of resources and people that you 
could get help from. 

So long email short: what we need is the tools to let people help each 
other. 

-- 
Mikko Särelä
"It is through exchange that difference becomes a blessing, not a
curse", Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of Great Britain