IdeaWazaWiki - User contributions [en]

Archive:Wikicracy

2008-08-18T04:29:21Z

71.174.187.111:

{{RightTOC}}
'''Wikicracy''', or Wikidemocracy, the future of democracy, is a model of government based on the open source and "wiki" concepts that have already been brought to the private sector, i.e. Wikipedia. The idea, at its most basic level, is bringing common citizens to the law, and allowing for a transparent law process and maximum public input using the latest technology. The pinnacle of this theory is allowing community members in any given jurisdiction direct access to its laws. Using wiki style editing, people can actually edit their demands into laws.

This is wiki, please contribute to this paper. Thank you.

==Project navigation==
* [[/Proposals/]]
* [[/Ideas/]]
* [[/Test website/]]
* [[/Status/]]
* [[/Frequently asked questions/]]
* [[/Joining/]]
* [[/Scratch/]]

== Let's imagine the future of wiki ==
=== Wikimedia projects ===
Collaboration using wikis is one of the few revolutionary inventions of the last few years in the social field. The philosophy behind the tool itself is at the same time simple and extremely powerful - everyone can contribute, in their own language, to the building of human knowledge.

Wikis help people to participate together efficiently without having to hold frequent meetings somewhere specific. Everyone can participate, wherever they may be, provided they have access to internet.

And even more extraordinary, is that contrary to forums, chats, e-mail or telephone conversations, wikis build upon what is previously stated; the first contribution made by someone is not forgotten. Over time the information on wikis is corrected (usually), modified, completed (sort of) by all the contributors that will be reading and editing the articles afterwards. Wikis also provide safeguards if someone intentionally or not had come and deleted useful information.

Wikis are already a success:
* for the global encyclopedia ([http://wikipedia.org/ wikipedia])
* for the dictionary ([http://www.wiktionary.org/ wiktionary])
* for the educational institution ([http://www.wikiversity.org/ wikiversity])

And other new projects, all having their own part in building a mankind-made information access for mankind.

Wikis are helping to build a global database that can be freely used by all humans, for photos and other media ([http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wikimedia commons]).

=== The revolution has just begun ===
==== Where we are ====
Wikimedia projects have mainly succeeded where information shall be according to the facts, and has focused on the efficient building up of knowledge.

Why ?

Information is always biased in some way, more or less depending on many things. Sometimes, one may focus on one aspect of reality and forget about other aspects; and, in the worst case scenario, false information may be delivered by someone too close to the subject of an article.
Thanks to the community and the wiki tool, a large amount of people check the articles, and thus can complete the other aspects not mentioned in the article, or put a warning if the article is thought to be biased. The more people that are watching the article, the more likely experts in the field will be looking at it, and the less chances are that errors won't get noticed.
This is the key for most perfect information, once we understand that like everything in this world, nothing is perfect, but everything can be improved and can converge to the (unreachable by definition) ideal of perfection.

==== Where we can go ====
Just like the facilitation of [[knowledge creation]] by wiki that occurs in an article, the wiki tool can become, if adapted, the ultimate tool for building political platforms, public budgeting, and all kinds of public consultation processed. That is, it can become a basic tool for more powerful, more efficient forms of democracy. The efficient facilitation of wide consensus could be achieved. This arguably could be the future of democracy.

Today, '''what I propose is to build together the tool that will allow a better democracy''', this has been called by others [[political wiki]]

Requirements:
* Accessible from anyone in the world with internet access
* Enabling efficient online proposals study/amendment
* Vote/adoption procedures and elections
* Robust for virtually any kind of group, association, political party, city board, country, international institution
* Adaptable to business e.g. shareholders meeting.

== To-do list ==
* Discuss name of the project: wikacracy? wikicracy? wikiocracy? wikidemocracy? democracy 2.0? ...
* Studying websites related to wiki and software, to democracy and to decision making.
* At the same time, listing all the feature that implies this project.
* Working on translations of a short resume of the project. [[User:Vmandrilly|Vmandrilly]] I can do it for French, and maybe Chinese
* Designing the interface.
* And then later we will need to translate this into computer code...

== Existing software ==
Existing tools and add-ons that may be usefull for this project
'''The fundamental base of the project'''
* [[MediaWiki]] --- Here is [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Category:All_extensions the available extentions page for MediaWiki].

'''Vote / poll systems'''
* ...
* ...

'''Others'''
* ...
* ...

== Feature requests ==
(please post here the functions you would like to see implemented in Wikicracy betas)
*
*

==Wikimedia==
* [[Wikipedia: Wikigovernment]]
* [[Wikipedia: eRulemaking]]
* [[Wikipedia: Open source governance]]
* [[Wikipedia: Open politics]]
* [[Wikipedia: E-democracy]]
* [[Wikipedia: e-Government]]
* [[Wikipedia: Radical transparency]]

== External links ==
=== Resources ===
Guidelines and important related texts:
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_politics Open Politics article on wikipedia]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ERulemaking ERulemaking article on wikipedia]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1lsxOnJgp4 A speech (video) from Ecuador President Rafael Correa to encourage Web 2.0 democracy!] - proves clearly there is a big interest in democracy tools for the internet. Let's build it!

===Other===
These are websites based on wiki and/or democracy principles. They may develop tools for their own wiki that could be used in this project. These websites/wikis may also be the firsts to wish to test Wikicracy betas.
* [http://www.mass-collaboration.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page Mass-collaboration.net]
* [http://www.policeact.govt.nz/contact.html New Zealand is using a wiki to allow its citizens to write its Police Law] It was tempoary unavaillable when I looked at it, let's hope it's going to be back online soon.
* [http://www.socialtext.com/ Socialtext.com] / [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialtext The Socialtext article on wikimedia] / [http://joiwiki.ito.com/jstatic/index.cgi?start_here Joi social workspace] (a wiki project sharing similar interests) A wiki developed for businesses / projects. Seems very close to this project.
* [http://protoforge.org/ ProtoForge] (a similar tool, not based on MediaWiki, meant for organizing engineering laws (requirements))
* [http://openpolitics.ca/tiki-index.php openpolitics.ca]. Note: this project seems advanced, and they have probably made changes/add-ons to their wiki that could be use in this project
* [http://serv01.siteground193.com/~wikipart/index.php?title=Main_Page Wikiparty international] / [http://www.wikipuolue.fi/index.php?title=Etusivu Finnish wikiparty]
*[http://wiki.idebate.org/index.php/Welcome_to_Debatepedia%21 Debatepedia.org]
* [http://democracy.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page democracy.wikia.com]
* [http://www.metagovernment.org/ metagovernment]
* [http://www.dellideastorm.com/ DellIdeastorm.com] Non politic, but intended to bring democracy in public opinion and gather ideas from the users.
:the main idea seems to be this 'digging' system in which you can vote to make the issue more or less visible in the ranking. This looks much like the idea of 'priority' flag I designed on the proposal.(see above in 'example' section [[User:Vmandrilly|Vmandrilly]] 11:08, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
* [http://www.whynot.net/ ¿WhyNot?] Another interesting tool, that integrates some style of debate. and Voting for popularity of ideas flow.
* July 2008 [http://p2pfoundation.net/Deliberative_Democracy P2PFoundation:Deliberative Democracy]
* [http://www.freegovernment.org FreeGovernment.org]
[[Category:Proposed projects]]
[[Category:Research]]

Archive:Aquamarine

2007-12-11T22:59:00Z

71.174.126.110:

{{otheruses1|the mineral}}
{{Infobox mineral
| name = Aquamarine
| category = [[beryl]] variety
| boxwidth =
| boxbgcolor =
| image = Aquamarin cut.jpg
| imagesize = 250px
| caption = Aquamarine
| formula = Be3Al2Si6O18<ref name="GRG"/>
| molweight =
| color = transparent (or can be translucent if included), greenish blue to blue green, typically light in tone<ref name="GRG">[[Gemological Institute of America]], ''GIA Gem Reference Guide'' 1995, ISBN:0-87311-019-6</ref>
| habit =
| system = [[hexagonal]]<ref name="GRG"/>
| twinning =
| cleavage = very difficult in one direction, almost never seen<ref name="GRG"/>
| fracture = [[conchoidal]]<ref name="GRG"/>
| mohs = 7.5 - 8<ref name="GRG"/>
| luster = [[vitreous]] to resinous<ref name="GRG"/>
| polish = [[vitreous]] <ref name="GRG"/>
| refractive = 1.577 - 1.583 (+/- .017)<ref name="GRG"/>
| opticalprop = Double refractive, uniaxial negative<ref name="GRG"/>
| birefringence = .005 - .009<ref name="GRG"/>
| dispersion = .014<ref name="GRG"/>
| pleochroism = weak to moderate, blue and greenish blue; or different tones of blue with lighter tones associated with the optic axis direction <ref name="GRG"/>
| fluorescence= inert<ref name="GRG"/>
| absorption = indistinct lines at 537 and 456nm. Depending on the depth of color, there is a strong line at 427nm.<ref name="GRG"/>
| streak =
| gravity = 2.72 (+.18, -.05)<ref name="GRG"/>
| density =
| melt =
| fusibility =
| diagnostic =
| solubility =
| diaphaneity =
| other =
}}
[[Image:Beryl09.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Three Beryl Crystals - Aquamarine rough crystal in the center]]
'''Aquamarine''' (Lat. ''aqua marinā'', "water of the sea") is a [[gemstone]]-quality transparent variety of [[beryl]], having a delicate blue or [[turquoise]] color, suggestive of the tint of [[seawater]]. It's closely related to the gem [[emerald]]. Colors vary and yellow beryl ([[heliodor]]), rose pink beryl ([[morganite]]), and white beryl ([[goshenite]]) are known.

==Composition==
Aquamarine is a beryl with a gay [[Hexagonal (crystal system)|hexagonal]] [[crystal structure]] and a [[chemical formula]] of Be3Al2Si6O18, a [[beryllium]] [[aluminium]] [[Silicate minerals|silicate mineral]]. It has a [[specific gravity]] of 2.68 to 2.74 and a [[Mohs hardness]] of from 7.5 to 8. Aquamarine typically is on the low end of the specific gravity range, normally at less than 2.7. The pink variety exhibits a high specific gravity of around 2.8. [[Refractive index|Refractive indices]] range around 1.57 to 1.58.

==Locations of deposits==
It occurs at most localities which yield ordinary beryl, some of the finest coming from [[Russia]]. The gem-gravel [[Placer mining|placer]] deposits of [[Sri Lanka]] contain aquamarine. Clear yellow beryl, such as occurs in [[Brazil]], is sometimes called aquamarine chrysolite. When [[corundum]] presents the bluish tint of typical aquamarine, it is often termed Oriental aquamarine.

In the [[United States]], aquamarines can be found at the summit of [[Mount Antero|Mt. Antero]] in the [[Sawatch Range]] in central [[Colorado]]. In [[Brazil]], there are mines in the states of [[Minas Gerais]], [[Espírito Santo]] and [[Bahia]]. Zambia also produces nice aquamarine as well as Madagascar, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya. Much of today's aquamarine is heated to give it a better color blue. The deeper the blue color, the more valuable the gem is considered.

The biggest aquamarine ever mined was found at the city of Marambaia, Minas Gerais, Brazil, in 1910. It weighed over 110 kg, and its dimensions were 48.5 cm long and 42 cm in diameter.

Aquamarine is the [[List of U.S. state minerals, rocks, stones and gemstones|official state gem]] of Colorado.

==Culture and historical/mythical usage==
*Aquamarine (along with Bloodstone) is the [[birthstone]] associated with March. It is also the gemstone for the 19th Anniversary.
*People in the [[Middle Ages]] thought that aquamarine could magically overcome the effects of [[poison]].
*Ancient sailors traveled with aquamarine crystals, believing that it would ensure a safe passage, and guarantee a safe return; they often slept with the stones under their pillow to ensure sound sleep. They believed the siren’s ([[mermaid]]) fish-like lower body was made of aquamarine.

== See also ==
{{commonscat|Aquamarine}}
* [[List of minerals]]

== References ==
<references/>
* Weinstein, Michael, 1958, ''The World of Jewel Stones'' Sheriden House, New York, pp 104-107
* Diamond Bug. [http://diamondbug.blogspot.com/2006/03/flawless-aquamarine-march-birthstone.html "Flawless Aquamarine: March Birthstone"]. Retrieved March 16, 2006.
*http://www.gemstone.org/gem-by-gem/english/aquamarine.html
*http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/gemstone/aquamari/aquamari.htm
*http://www.mindat.org/min-289.html

{{Jewellery Materials}}
{{Gems & Crystals}}
[[Category:Silicate minerals]]
[[Category:Gemstones]]

[[bg:Аквамарин]]
[[da:Akvamarin]]
[[de:Aquamarin]]
[[et:Akvamariin]]
[[es:Aguamarina]]
[[fr:Aigue-marine]]
[[gl:Augamariña]]
[[he:אקוומרין]]
[[lv:Akvamarīns]]
[[lt:Akvamarinas]]
[[nl:Aquamarijn]]
[[ja:アクアマリン]]
[[no:Akvamarin]]
[[pl:Akwamaryn]]
[[pt:Água-marinha]]
[[ro:Acvamarin]]
[[ru:Аквамарин]]
[[sl:Akvamarin (kamen)]]
[[sr:Аквамарин]]
[[fi:Akvamariini]]
[[sv:Akvamarin]]
[[vi:Ngọc berin]]
[[tr:Akuamarin]]
[[uk:Аквамарин]]