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So you are ready for more eh?  Great!

Now that we can host a dialogue, distinguish solutions from commentary, and rate any and all posts...things start getting very interesting.  One of the best ways to demonstrate this is with my favorite tool:  The Topic Solution Report. 

The Topic Solution Report

Imagine if we presented a really important problem in a forum.  Then we had hundreds of people participate in presenting and discussing solutions to that problem.  We also had hundreds of people read and rate every solution in the dialogue for its wisdom.  Wouldn't it be nice to very easily see the highest rated "solutions" in any single such discussion?  That is exactly what the Topic Solution Report does for you. 

Here is today's example of the topic solution report for the Great Debate topic "How should government tax?"

This report is chuck full of cool features.  Here is the laundry list:

  • It lists all solution posts in order of average rating.

  • It shows how many people have rated each solution.
  • It displays your current rating for each solution.
  • It gives you the ability to easily rate or change your rating for any solution.
  • If you click the [+] next to the solution title, you can actually read the full post to better evaluate the solution.
  • You can reply to a solution directly from the report after you expand the solution body.  (See below.)

This is what you see after you expand a post.  You can go straight to the original thread or post a reply directly from this screen.  (I love this report...)

Want to see a real live Topic Solution Report in action?  Below are links directly to a few well developed reports.  (I hope we soon have fully developed threads like this for countries besides the USA!)

How to Open a Topic Solution Report for a Thread

You might want to know how to view this report for a different topic.  You can!  Below is a typical forum list of topics.  Can you find the link to the Topic Solution Report for each discussion?  

In case you couldn't find it.  It is the "View Report" link next to each topic title. 

There's More

As you can see, we have some pretty powerful tools.  But we aren't done.  In fact, everything up to this point was just the beginning.  All the tools so far are the machinery for extracting wisdom from dialogue-yet, what do we do with it once we have found it? 

The answer is we take that raw nugget of wisdom and we plant it in a place it can grow and develop into a full fledged plan of action.  The place that happens is the Wisdom Project Wiki, also known as WikiWisdom: The Open Source Book of Wisdom.

WikiWisdom

What good is a brilliant idea if it is posted in a forum one day.... and just left there...?  We don't let that happen.  We take the seeds of wisdom from our dialogues and plant them to grow and develop.  We test them for their true potential to see how good they really are.  To do this, we use the ultimate innovation in collaborative information development:  The Wiki.

If you have never heard about Wiki technology before, here is a snapshot.  A wiki is a web page that is very easy to make. It is also a web site in which hundreds of people can very easily collaborate to help polish and develop information.  The biggest and most successful wiki to date is called Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

WikiWisdom is The Open Source Book of Wisdom.  Unlike Wikipedia which strives for "neutrality" regarding information, WikiWisdom strives for figuring out not only what is true, but also what is important.  Information that is merely true is knowledge.  Information that is true and immeasurably important is wisdom.  WikiWisdom is a place where anyone can publish their essays striving for wisdom on any subject.  WikiWisdom is also the polishing ground for the practical wisdom sought in the Wisdom Project Think Tank forums.

You might say that when an idea graduates from the Wisdom Project think tank forums, it is then taken to WikiWisdom to grow to full maturity.  Here is how it works:

The Integration of Wiki and Forum

Every Wisdom Project Think Tank Forum has a link directly to a WikiWisdom page for that forum.  Look at the image below... can you find the link to the Wiki page for Think Tank Africa?  (Start Jeopardy music now.)

If you couldn't find it, it is the "Wiki" link in the far right column.  Just click that link to view the WikiWisdom page for that think tank.  Only a few areas within WikiWisdom have a lot of development so far, but that is because we are still in the idea crunching phase.  Here is today's Think Tank Africa WikWisdom Page:

The goal is for WikiWisdom and The Wisdom Project Forums to have a energetic and symbiotic relationship.  They sort of balance each other out.  Important questions are destined to be asked over and over again-that's just the nature of the human condition.  Anyone can open up any great question or problem for fresh debate in the Think Tank forums-and hopefully WikiWisdom will catch the best ideas like fly paper and serve as an ever growing reservoir of human wisdom.

WikiWisdom is where the best ideas from the think tank forums will be polished and developed.  When appropriate, those ideas will be published and promoted in an effort to influence and guide policy.

That's the gist of it

That is the gist of how the Wisdom Project works...so far.  More enhancements are in active development.

The Wisdom Project is the most unique discussion forum on the Internet, focused like a laser upon our most important problems and questions.  I hope you will join us in our never ending quest for wisdom.  Is there anything else more important?

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