This Project is for people who care…
…about social dialogue and deliberation*
Societies need a complimentary range of public tools for citizens to explore their impacts on others.
The tool proposed here registers positive and negative human value impacts, accounting for the strength of peoples feelings, concerns and intuitions:-
…providing a space for everyone’s perspectives and values to be represented fairly.
…giving us the opportunity to know the people we affect and how strongly they feel.
…enabling safe communications with those whose actions effect us most.
…providing the knowledge and understanding we need to think and act on what people care about the most….and recognition for doing it.
* What do I mean by social dialogue and deliberation?
Social dialog and deliberation refer to a processes in which people engage in thoughtful and inclusive discussions or conversations about social issues, policies, or decisions. It involves a collective effort to consider diverse perspectives, share information, and weigh various viewpoints, synthesising ideas, forming opinions and (potentially) a consensus, prior to deriving decisions or taking action.

PURPOSE
I want to help as many people as I can, as much as I can…
and to help others do the same.
I believe
That the most profound way to help, is to establish progressive social norms and expectations through genuine dialog.
That we should include as many people as possible in the development and expression of shared human values.
…that these principles apply in nearly every sphere and scale of concern.
values, and prospects…
We need a safe intuitive place where everyone can describe, advocate, reflect on and develop together, the things they care about (their Values), and what we can do about them (our Prospects).
the goal
The short term aim of this project is to demonstrate that thoughtful social dialog and deliberation can equip us to take more effective care of ourselves, each other and the future.
ESSENTIAL READING
If you would like to know more, please click through to these documents…
‘Vision and Intent’ (2000 words), adopts the view that all collective human activity is an expression of shared human values. It assumes that a reflective social dialog can be made as easily accessible as global social media.
From this starting point the document describes a number of purposes and outcomes that a systematic software application combining public dialgue and deliberation could reasonably achieve, acknowledging challenges and gaps.
The document concludes with a diverse listing of plausible but unsubstantiated claims supporting the aims of this project, illustrating the sort of argument that a deliberative application, intended for the general public, is required to work with and from.
‘Social Learning by Design’ (3000 words), describes how a Deliberative application could implement the ‘Vision and Intent’.
8 basic components, 15 principles and 4 primary assumptions are identified and outlined for further development.
The descriptions of these elements also outline the processes and sociability at the beating heart of this intent…
These processes include:- Registering Values and Prospects (then) Facilitating Discourse to develop and improve them. Exploring Perspectives using Scope and Source filters. Impact analysis, Matchmaking, Reporting (Ranking & Comparing options). Analyzing lifestyles, conventions and behaviours. Finding collaborators and launching high human value initiatives.
VISUALISING Values & Prospects
… best viewed on a desktop for now …
I hope you can see the potential of this experimental proof-of-concept visualisation. It adapts the excellent open-source bibliometric tool ‘VOSviewer’ (by Nees Jan Van Eck and Ludo Waltman) to demonstrate key aspects of Value Prospecting..
A custom-built navigator would be more intuitive and less visually dense, and this example lacks ‘semantic zooming’ – a vital feature for linking individual lived experience, personal actions and global impacts.
Still, VOSviewer effectively shows how Node-Edge networks support ‘Social Learning by Perspective Taking’ – simultaneously conveying Context (the big picture), Importance (bubble size), Proportionality (area), Relationships (link strength), and Similarity (proximity).
They say ‘a picture speaks a thousand words’, but these explorable schematics can summarise and make accessible an unlimited number of individual value stories in the ‘language of seeing’.
Hints: For best results, view full-screen on Windows, Android, or Unix (not Apple—Java isn’t supported). Click the top-right box icon to expand. Select a central Prospect to explore its value impacts and text. Use your mouse to zoom and drag….If you don’t see a relevant Prospect, then I’d be glad to include any you document and share.
BLOG POSTS & COMMENTS
There may be placeholder posts for ideas that I want to capture and develop later. If a placeholder topic interests you or you have any comments and ideas that you feel we should discuss in a post then I will add one. Use the header ‘signup’ or menu ‘contact/help’ option to let me know what you have in mind.
Latest Posts
- Introducing the Value Prospecting project to Academic ResearchersThe form below was sent out (on 01 Jun 25) by the Scottish government funded agency Interface-Online – which matchmakes public sector… Read more: Introducing the Value Prospecting project to Academic Researchers
- Can AI Help Contributors Differentiate Between Personal and Universal Values?Status: First Draft Published for comment It is likely that some contributors will confuse their personal goals, intrinsic values, social values and… Read more: Can AI Help Contributors Differentiate Between Personal and Universal Values?
- Why does ‘Value Prospecting with Social Learning…’ make sense to me.I believe that the revolution in personal connectivity and information technologies offers amazing potential. Many more people can now access much more… Read more: Why does ‘Value Prospecting with Social Learning…’ make sense to me.
- We need a starting list of Social Values for the public to develop and improve…Status: First Draft Published for comment The overriding requirement is for us (the application development team) to provide a blank framework and… Read more: We need a starting list of Social Values for the public to develop and improve…
FAQs
Links, Attributions & Citations
Meet (or Join) the ‘team’…
Well OK , I’ve described an idea, but I’m out of date, out of practice, and on my own.
I care about this a lot. If you feel the same way, then I’d really like to know!
I need help… to synthesise a modern application e.g., choosing and using an appropriate Tech and Software ‘stack’, Integrating innovative informatics, academic and professional aspects of sense making, UX/UI design for deliberation, incorporating techniques for Conflict resolution and Argument capture. Developing ways to crowd-source definitions (ontologies and taxonomies), and then supporting the evolution of people and their vocabulary via communication. Testing the results…Finding institutional and philanthropic supporters willing to help, making the work open source…

Rob Weir
Project Initiator / White Paper Author

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This project needs you…

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or someone you know…

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It doesn’t have to consume a lot of your time…comment, write, send me a link, interview online….or just sign up as a friend – it all helps!