Editing Consumerium:FAQ

''This needs to be broken into a [[Consumerium:Consumer FAQ]], a [[Consumerium:Researcher FAQ]], and [[Consumerium:Developer FAQ]] eventually.''

==FAQ==
'''Ask your questions here'''

Place your question on top. When it is anwsered it will be moved to the proper category. Avoid empty linking when writing anwsers in the FAQ.

==Q: Why is there no functioning prototype [[Research Wiki]]==
:'''A:''' [[Consumerpedia]] intended to be a prototype for our research wiki, but the project stalled due to [[ad hominem]] a priori banning of users. [[CorpKnowPedia]] is operational and is correcting information about corporations. Also [[license|licensing]] questions are open yet as is wiki governance.

==Q: What is a Wiki?==
:'''A:''' Wiki is an hypertext system where anyone can edit any page easily and make it immediately visible to others just by saving.  You can learn how to edit articles in less then 10 minutes at [http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_User%27s_Guide:_Editing_overview the official users guide to editing a page] using this [[mediawiki]] software, which obeys (and more or less defines) the de facto [[wikitext standard]].

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==Q: What is GFDL?==
:'''A:''' GFDL stands for '''GNU Free Documentation License'''. All material here is Licensed under GFDL, so it's free and will stay that way forever, as will improvements or extensions to it. [[GFDL|Click here to view to license]]. 

To comply with the source-text access here is a link to the [[MySQL dump]] where you can load ''cur'' and ''old'' tables of the database. The schema used is that of sub-1.0 [[MediaWiki]] that is to say old Phase III.
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==Q: Is there an equivalent of the help desk to ask general questions about products etc?==

:A: Our [[Research Wiki]] will eventually allow [[Consumerium Service access]] directly to do this.  For now, no, due to our policy of [[What Consumerium RD Wiki is not]] we don't have actual [[Links|content]] about [[product]]s and [[Service cycle]]s yet. Check out our '''[[Links]]''' page for links to some good resources.  

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==Q:  Why should I think this project will work?==

:A: Because many global NGOs with long experience in [[w:moral purchasing|moral purchasing]] have proposed or launched similar efforts, usually as shorter-term [[w:boycott|boycott]] efforts.  Such projects were instrumental in ending the apartheid regime in South Africa, for instance.  More recently, [http://act.greenpeace.org/1020609361/1021119917/1021124011/1021160307/index_html  Greenpeace activists discussed 'personal moral purchasing rules' and systems to support them] including collecting [http://act.greenpeace.org/1014917000/1014941204/1024270541/1024347962/1024421552/1024691201/index_html Universal Product Codes of offending products].  Given the experience of the organizations that support and organize such efforts, it may be more appropriate to ask "what makes you think this project would ''not'' work?"

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==Q: What is the scope of the [[Consumerium]] project?==

:A: The goal of the Consumerium project, in a nutshell, is to increase power of the [[consumer]] in [[market economy]]. This goal is achieved by developing an information gathering, storage and transporting infrastructure that delievers '''all available information''' to support consumer decisions - with '''just a touch of a button''', and gives to the consumer the ability to give [[feedback]], even to the '''other side of the world''' - with just a few touches of buttons. All this must be offered to the consumer free of charge. Ideally it would invoke criteria from trusted mediators, e.g. [http://act.greenpeace.org/1014917000/1014941204/1024270541/1024347962/index_html#1024421552 Non-Governmental Organizations, e.g. Greenpeace, where a suggestion of how to do this was debated extensively in June of 2002].

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==Q: That's not saying much. Can you be more concrete?==

:A: Sure, go check out the planned [[Features]] and the [[healthy signal infrastructure]] that is already evolving to support this and [[related services]].

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==Q: Why Consumerium?==

:A: The [[Motivation]].
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==Q: I want to contribute. How do I do that?==

:A: If you're not coming here from [[Wikipedia]] you should go and see [[w:How to edit a page]] to learn how to edit pages in under 10 minutes. Please do come back though, and add interesting Wikipedia articles you find to [[Research]]. You can of course edit any page you want here, or even create a new one.  We are not so crowded as Wikipedia, and so we can be more relaxed. 
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==Q: This seems a little poorly organised?==

:A: That's true, we pretty much make it up as we go along. There are different [[Stages]] charted out though. We are currently somewhere between stages I and II.  There's also a [[glossary]] which might help you see how things fit together.  Like most [[moral purchasing]] we are growing from "bottom up".
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==Q: Who's the founder of this project?==

:A: The founder is [[User:Juxo|Juxo]], who is also [[Lowest Troll]].

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==Q:  Who will run this complex project once it starts?==

:A: We simply don't know, the structure of the [[Consumerium Governance Organization]] and an [[independent board]] for it, and what [[software development concepts]] ought to be applied, what licenses, what [[wiki code]] and [[mobile device code]], etc, are all being researched right here right now.

:We have some general ideas about [[democracy]] and staying [[troll-friendly]], since all people who criticize corporations are basically trolls from someone's POV.

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==Q: Who are the other people writing?==

:A: Some [[elves]] and some [[trolls]], who are people too.  Chimps are now also people too (in Genus Homo)!  Don't be too concerned about "who" here, if you see something you disagree with, just change it.  We don't need credentials for research, though we might need them to certify things said about companies.
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==Q: Will every element of this be [[free software]]?==

:Not necessarily.  Free software and open source models have [[problems with free software and open source models|problems]].  A [[Consumerium Governance Organization]] may develop or aggregate "non-free" software to assist in the compilation and validation of information to guide purchasing.  For integrity reasons and to prevent bad copies and misleading competitors, this may require a more specific [[Consumerium License]] regime.  We reserve the right to use your contribution to achieve the general goals of Consumerium.  Discussions remain GFDL so that a different implementation on the same design could be, conceivably, created as "pure" free software for those ideologues who want it.
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==Q:  What exactly will this look like to me as an end user?==

:A: Here's our best current guess:

::Our front end will be seen by the [[end user]] as a [[red light|red]]/[[yellow light|yellow]]/[[green light]] traffic-type signal, or as a [[score]] easily translated into a [[price premium]], or as a note in [[Simple English]] about issues with, or merits of, the product.  Release of this advice is keyed to [[bar code]]s.

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==Q: How will this data be updated to the users' device?==

:A:There are several ways to connect back to front end:  we may rely on frequently updated data embedded in hand-held devices, and/or dynamic retrieval via [[short-range wireless]] to the shelf front.  Where possible, reasons for making buying decisions, or refusing a certain product, will go as [[feedback]] to the [[producer]]s.

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==Q: How will this data be kept accurate?==

:A:Our back end relies on [[opinion wiki]] comments compiled by software using a [[wikitext standard]].  [[Semantic link]] standards may be required also.  To work out the conventions and issues involved, we are working through a wiki in the R&D phase.