Rise of the Wikis

Further evidence that wiki technology is changing the face of collaboration comes from the non-partisan Council on Foreign Relations, which filed a report on the use of an “Intellipedia” by sixteen intelligence agencies.

Faced with a nimble, adaptive adversary and an unwieldy bureaucracy, the intelligence community hopes that adopting a revolutionary new social networking software behind the popular “Wikipedia” network will help improve its ability to gather and disseminate information. Last month, John Negroponte, the director of national intelligence, revealed the existence of the intelligence community’s own brand of the “Wiki:” “Intellipedia.” Authorized users from all sixteen intelligence agencies have access not only to read the information posted there, but also to create and edit entries where they see fit. Since its inception in April of this year, Intellipedia has grown to more than 28,000 pages generated by some 3,600 users.

I posted earlier about our use of a wiki to run a small workshop. So far, it has been a success, and we are considering using the wiki to prepare a report on our workshop activities.

Poll Workers and the New Voting Technology

There is an article in the WaPo today laying out some of the challenges for poll workers who are in charge of ensuring the election goes off without a hitch. I have always admired the dedicated, usually elderly, citizens I meet on election day. They work long hours for little pay and in every instance seem genuinely thrilled to help their fellow citizens participate in democracy. They are always pleasant and make me feel good about the act of voting.

Now comes the not too surprising news that some of them are feeling more than a little challenged by the shift to electronic voting machines. The story reports:

Goodman is part of the wave of hastily recruited Montgomery trainees, and at 73 he fits what elections officials say is the age profile of the average poll worker nationwide. Most are well into their retirement years, and the technology changes can be daunting for some of those who didn’t grow up using computers. That is why some states are looking to recruit college, and even high school, students to work the polls.

Goodman, a former NBC television news producer who lives near Rockville, said he found the jargon of the training session offered by the county Board of Elections incomprehensible and the technology overwhelming. It wasn’t long before his eagerness hardened to frustration as he realized the job of check-in judge was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

He’s no computer whiz, but given a bit more time he could manage, he said. In a single three-hour class, “there was no way to absorb all that,” he said.

Having sat through a training to learn how to assist blind voters in their use of these machines, I would add that you do not need to be elderly or a computer novice to find the training more than a little daunting. Let’s cross our fingers for a smooth, fair, and equitable election day.