Proposal: hArgument Microformat

Hi Folks,
 
Michael Crichton says: "The greatest challenge facing
mankind is the
challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth
from
propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a challenge
to
mankind, but in the information age (or as I think of it,
the
disinformation age) it takes on a special urgency and
importance." 
 
One of the keys to distinguishing information from
disinformation is to
have a clear understanding of the assumptions an author is
making.
Typically, it takes a great deal of effort to distill an
author's
assumptions.  Bring clearly to light the assumptions being
made would
go a long way towards facilitating a web of trust.

I propose an hArgument Microformat with two properties:

hArgument
   assumption (repeatable): a statement of what the author
assumes to
be true, 
       and upon which his/her conclusion follows. [If it can
be
demonstrated that
       the assumption is false, then the conclusion is
invalid]

   conclusion (repeatable): a statement that derives from
the
assumption(s)

Example: below is an example of an argument.  The argument
can be
immediately discredited because the assumptions can be shown
to be
fallacious:

<p class="hArgument">

   <span class="assumption">Microformats are
a disruptive
technology</span>

   <span class="assumption">Microformats are
attempting to supplant XML

       documents with HTML and XHTML documents</span>

   <span class="assumption">The main benefit
of Microformats is that it

       allows graceful degradation</span>

   <span class="conclusion">Microformats go
too far.</span>

   <span class="conclusion">It's almost
better to use a more suited 
       format in such cases</span>
</p>

The advantage of this is that there is no need to
"guess" what are the
author's assumptions.  They are clearly identified.

Use Cases: any web page that tries to convince you of
something.  The
examples are endless.

Comments?

/Roger 

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Hey Roger,

Looks interesting. Check out the Microformats process.
http://microform
ats.org/wiki/process

Then propose on the [microformats-new] list.

Cheers,
James



On May 20, 2007, at 2:37 PM, Costello, Roger L. wrote:

> Hi Folks,
>
> Michael Crichton says: "The greatest challenge
facing mankind is the
> challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth
from
> propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a
challenge to
> mankind, but in the information age (or as I think of
it, the
> disinformation age) it takes on a special urgency and
importance."
>
> One of the keys to distinguishing information from
disinformation  
> is to
> have a clear understanding of the assumptions an author
is making.
> Typically, it takes a great deal of effort to distill
an author's
> assumptions.  Bring clearly to light the assumptions
being made would
> go a long way towards facilitating a web of trust.
>
> I propose an hArgument Microformat with two
properties:
>
> hArgument
>    assumption (repeatable): a statement of what the
author assumes to
> be true,
>        and upon which his/her conclusion follows. [If
it can be
> demonstrated that
>        the assumption is false, then the conclusion is
invalid]
>
>    conclusion (repeatable): a statement that derives
from the
> assumption(s)
>
> Example: below is an example of an argument.  The
argument can be
> immediately discredited because the assumptions can be
shown to be
> fallacious:
>
> <p class="hArgument">
>
>    <span
class="assumption">Microformats are a
disruptive
> technology</span>
>
>    <span
class="assumption">Microformats are attempting
to supplant  
> XML
>
>        documents with HTML and XHTML
documents</span>
>
>    <span class="assumption">The main
benefit of Microformats is  
> that it
>
>        allows graceful degradation</span>
>
>    <span
class="conclusion">Microformats go too
far.</span>
>
>    <span class="conclusion">It's almost
better to use a more suited
>        format in such cases</span>
> </p>
>
> The advantage of this is that there is no need to
"guess" what are the
> author's assumptions.  They are clearly identified.
>
> Use Cases: any web page that tries to convince you of
something.  The
> examples are endless.
>
> Comments?
>
> /Roger
>
> _______________________________________________
> microformats-discuss mailing list
> microformats-discussmicroformats.org
> http://microformats.org/mailman/listinfo/microforma
ts-discuss

_______________________________________________
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ts-discuss

as stated before, proposals go on microformats-new, not this
list.

Aside from that- microformats tend to be based on existing
practice.  
Wouldn't it be nice if people stated their assumptions
straight off?  
Microformats or no. Unfortunately, the persuasive power of
many  
arguments depend on the assumptions being kept secret. If
the  
assumptions were stated straight off, it would be so much
easier to  
debunk the argument by simply showing an assumption to be
false. In  
an ideal world, everyone would welcome this level of
scrutiny and  
criticism. Unfortunately, this world is populated with
humans rather  
than ideals, so we're stuck debunking arguments by sussing
out the  
assumptions, or spotting fallacies ourselves. Not everyone
is  
schooled in the nuances of logic.

On 21/05/2007, at 7:37 AM, Costello, Roger L. wrote:

> Hi Folks,
>
> Michael Crichton says: "The greatest challenge
facing mankind is the
> challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth
from
> propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a
challenge to
> mankind, but in the information age (or as I think of
it, the
> disinformation age) it takes on a special urgency and
importance."
>
> One of the keys to distinguishing information from
disinformation  
> is to
> have a clear understanding of the assumptions an author
is making.
> Typically, it takes a great deal of effort to distill
an author's
> assumptions.  Bring clearly to light the assumptions
being made would
> go a long way towards facilitating a web of trust.
>
> I propose an hArgument Microformat with two
properties:
>
> hArgument
>    assumption (repeatable): a statement of what the
author assumes to
> be true,
>        and upon which his/her conclusion follows. [If
it can be
> demonstrated that
>        the assumption is false, then the conclusion is
invalid]
>
>    conclusion (repeatable): a statement that derives
from the
> assumption(s)
>
> Example: below is an example of an argument.  The
argument can be
> immediately discredited because the assumptions can be
shown to be
> fallacious:
>
> <p class="hArgument">
>
>    <span
class="assumption">Microformats are a
disruptive
> technology</span>
>
>    <span
class="assumption">Microformats are attempting
to supplant  
> XML
>
>        documents with HTML and XHTML
documents</span>
>
>    <span class="assumption">The main
benefit of Microformats is  
> that it
>
>        allows graceful degradation</span>
>
>    <span
class="conclusion">Microformats go too
far.</span>
>
>    <span class="conclusion">It's almost
better to use a more suited
>        format in such cases</span>
> </p>
>
> The advantage of this is that there is no need to
"guess" what are the
> author's assumptions.  They are clearly identified.
>
> Use Cases: any web page that tries to convince you of
something.  The
> examples are endless.
>
> Comments?
>
> /Roger
>
> _______________________________________________
> microformats-discuss mailing list
> microformats-discussmicroformats.org
> http://microformats.org/mailman/listinfo/microforma
ts-discuss

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ts-discuss

An interesting quote from Tim Berners-Lee relevant to typed
replies in 
discussions.

"People are already experimenting with new social
machines for online 
peer review, while other tools such as chat rooms developed
quite 
independently and before the Web. […] By experimenting with
these 
structures, we may find a way to organise new social models
that not 
only scale well, but can be combined to form larger
structures. […] I’d 
always been frustrated that the essential role of a message
in an 
argument was often lost information. […] We created a
sub-directory 
called Discussion [… that] allowed people to post questions
on a given 
subject, read and respond. A person couldn’t just ‘reply’.
He had to say 
whether he was agreeing, disagreeing or asking for
clarification of a 
point. The idea was that the state of the discussion would
be visible to 
everyone involved."

These links may be of interest...

Eran's reply to my post about mf, SIOC and argumentative
discussions:
http://hellonline.co
m/blog/?p=91

An existing mf he referenced:
http://microf
ormats.org/wiki/vote-links

See also IBIS... The "assumption" you mentioned is
more of a "question" 
in IBIS that is supported or refuted, etc.

Issue-Based Information Systems:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_problem#IBIS_
and_successors

Some terms in an IBIS vocabulary from Danny Ayers:
http://www.schemaweb.info/schema/SchemaInfo.aspx?id=4

I think a hIBIS could be a good idea... We also want to
include some 
argumentative discussion features in SIOC.

John.
--
Costello, Roger L. wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>  
> Michael Crichton says: "The greatest challenge
facing mankind is the
> challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth
from
> propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a
challenge to
> mankind, but in the information age (or as I think of
it, the
> disinformation age) it takes on a special urgency and
importance." 
>  
>   
...
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ts-discuss