design of democracy (7.1):elections as UI

“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

-Steve Jobs

Note: Am breaking up my last post in this series on the design of democracy into two installments.

My contention is that our political troubles (the surfeit of worthy candidates, the corruption in the system) are direct products of the current design of our electoral system -of the nuts and bolts of the process -of the mechanisms that guide how it works.*

The system is biased towards unworthy candidates. The system engenders power brokerage and corruption. The system itself frustrates the desires of the electorate.

I've already discussed the power of the positive feedback gain, the barriers to entry, the effects of a large electorate, and how our current process of selecting and electing political leaders can be modeled as a market failure (oligopsony) or a signal processing failure.

Let me offer one more way to think the problem (one more way to view the problems of the existing system), before I go on to a possible design solution.

Think about the elections as a User Interface (UI) -by which the citizen, as a user, participates in the democratic process.

Now tell me, who in their right mind would design a UI like this?

Senate Selection
SELECT Senator 1Edgardo AngaraBenigno Aquino IIIJoker ArroyoMartin BautistaFelix CantalAlan Peter CayetanoJoselito CayetanoMelchor ChavezAnna Dominique CosetengMichael DefensorRuben EncisoFrancis Joseph EscuderoAntonio EstrellaRichard GomezGregorio HonananJamalul Kiram IIIPanfilo LacsonLoren LegardaOliver LozanoVicente MagsaysayCesar MontanoTessie OretaEduardo OrpillaJohn Henry OsmeñaFrancis PangilinanZosimo ParedesProspero Pichay Jr.Aquilino Pimentel IIIRalph RectoSonia RocoLuis SingsonAdrian SisonVicente Sotto IIIAntonio Trillanes IVManuel Villar Jr.Victor WoodJuan Miguel Zubiri
SELECT Senator 2Edgardo AngaraBenigno Aquino IIIJoker ArroyoMartin BautistaFelix CantalAlan Peter CayetanoJoselito CayetanoMelchor ChavezAnna Dominique CosetengMichael DefensorRuben EncisoFrancis Joseph EscuderoAntonio EstrellaRichard GomezGregorio HonananJamalul Kiram IIIPanfilo LacsonLoren LegardaOliver LozanoVicente MagsaysayCesar MontanoTessie OretaEduardo OrpillaJohn Henry OsmeñaFrancis PangilinanZosimo ParedesProspero Pichay Jr.Aquilino Pimentel IIIRalph RectoSonia RocoLuis SingsonAdrian SisonVicente Sotto IIIAntonio Trillanes IVManuel Villar Jr.Victor WoodJuan Miguel Zubiri
SELECT Senator 3Edgardo AngaraBenigno Aquino IIIJoker ArroyoMartin BautistaFelix CantalAlan Peter CayetanoJoselito CayetanoMelchor ChavezAnna Dominique CosetengMichael DefensorRuben EncisoFrancis Joseph EscuderoAntonio EstrellaRichard GomezGregorio HonananJamalul Kiram IIIPanfilo LacsonLoren LegardaOliver LozanoVicente MagsaysayCesar MontanoTessie OretaEduardo OrpillaJohn Henry OsmeñaFrancis PangilinanZosimo ParedesProspero Pichay Jr.Aquilino Pimentel IIIRalph RectoSonia RocoLuis SingsonAdrian SisonVicente Sotto IIIAntonio Trillanes IVManuel Villar Jr.Victor WoodJuan Miguel Zubiri
SELECT Senator 4Edgardo AngaraBenigno Aquino IIIJoker ArroyoMartin BautistaFelix CantalAlan Peter CayetanoJoselito CayetanoMelchor ChavezAnna Dominique CosetengMichael DefensorRuben EncisoFrancis Joseph EscuderoAntonio EstrellaRichard GomezGregorio HonananJamalul Kiram IIIPanfilo LacsonLoren LegardaOliver LozanoVicente MagsaysayCesar MontanoTessie OretaEduardo OrpillaJohn Henry OsmeñaFrancis PangilinanZosimo ParedesProspero Pichay Jr.Aquilino Pimentel IIIRalph RectoSonia RocoLuis SingsonAdrian SisonVicente Sotto IIIAntonio Trillanes IVManuel Villar Jr.Victor WoodJuan Miguel Zubiri
SELECT Senator 5Edgardo AngaraBenigno Aquino IIIJoker ArroyoMartin BautistaFelix CantalAlan Peter CayetanoJoselito CayetanoMelchor ChavezAnna Dominique CosetengMichael DefensorRuben EncisoFrancis Joseph EscuderoAntonio EstrellaRichard GomezGregorio HonananJamalul Kiram IIIPanfilo LacsonLoren LegardaOliver LozanoVicente MagsaysayCesar MontanoTessie OretaEduardo OrpillaJohn Henry OsmeñaFrancis PangilinanZosimo ParedesProspero Pichay Jr.Aquilino Pimentel IIIRalph RectoSonia RocoLuis SingsonAdrian SisonVicente Sotto IIIAntonio Trillanes IVManuel Villar Jr.Victor WoodJuan Miguel Zubiri
SELECT Senator 6Edgardo AngaraBenigno Aquino IIIJoker ArroyoMartin BautistaFelix CantalAlan Peter CayetanoJoselito CayetanoMelchor ChavezAnna Dominique CosetengMichael DefensorRuben EncisoFrancis Joseph EscuderoAntonio EstrellaRichard GomezGregorio HonananJamalul Kiram IIIPanfilo LacsonLoren LegardaOliver LozanoVicente MagsaysayCesar MontanoTessie OretaEduardo OrpillaJohn Henry OsmeñaFrancis PangilinanZosimo ParedesProspero Pichay Jr.Aquilino Pimentel IIIRalph RectoSonia RocoLuis SingsonAdrian SisonVicente Sotto IIIAntonio Trillanes IVManuel Villar Jr.Victor WoodJuan Miguel Zubiri
SELECT Senator 7Edgardo AngaraBenigno Aquino IIIJoker ArroyoMartin BautistaFelix CantalAlan Peter CayetanoJoselito CayetanoMelchor ChavezAnna Dominique CosetengMichael DefensorRuben EncisoFrancis Joseph EscuderoAntonio EstrellaRichard GomezGregorio HonananJamalul Kiram IIIPanfilo LacsonLoren LegardaOliver LozanoVicente MagsaysayCesar MontanoTessie OretaEduardo OrpillaJohn Henry OsmeñaFrancis PangilinanZosimo ParedesProspero Pichay Jr.Aquilino Pimentel IIIRalph RectoSonia RocoLuis SingsonAdrian SisonVicente Sotto IIIAntonio Trillanes IVManuel Villar Jr.Victor WoodJuan Miguel Zubiri
SELECT Senator 8Edgardo AngaraBenigno Aquino IIIJoker ArroyoMartin BautistaFelix CantalAlan Peter CayetanoJoselito CayetanoMelchor ChavezAnna Dominique CosetengMichael DefensorRuben EncisoFrancis Joseph EscuderoAntonio EstrellaRichard GomezGregorio HonananJamalul Kiram IIIPanfilo LacsonLoren LegardaOliver LozanoVicente MagsaysayCesar MontanoTessie OretaEduardo OrpillaJohn Henry OsmeñaFrancis PangilinanZosimo ParedesProspero Pichay Jr.Aquilino Pimentel IIIRalph RectoSonia RocoLuis SingsonAdrian SisonVicente Sotto IIIAntonio Trillanes IVManuel Villar Jr.Victor WoodJuan Miguel Zubiri
SELECT Senator 9Edgardo AngaraBenigno Aquino IIIJoker ArroyoMartin BautistaFelix CantalAlan Peter CayetanoJoselito CayetanoMelchor ChavezAnna Dominique CosetengMichael DefensorRuben EncisoFrancis Joseph EscuderoAntonio EstrellaRichard GomezGregorio HonananJamalul Kiram IIIPanfilo LacsonLoren LegardaOliver LozanoVicente MagsaysayCesar MontanoTessie OretaEduardo OrpillaJohn Henry OsmeñaFrancis PangilinanZosimo ParedesProspero Pichay Jr.Aquilino Pimentel IIIRalph RectoSonia RocoLuis SingsonAdrian SisonVicente Sotto IIIAntonio Trillanes IVManuel Villar Jr.Victor WoodJuan Miguel Zubiri
SELECT Senator 10Edgardo AngaraBenigno Aquino IIIJoker ArroyoMartin BautistaFelix CantalAlan Peter CayetanoJoselito CayetanoMelchor ChavezAnna Dominique CosetengMichael DefensorRuben EncisoFrancis Joseph EscuderoAntonio EstrellaRichard GomezGregorio HonananJamalul Kiram IIIPanfilo LacsonLoren LegardaOliver LozanoVicente MagsaysayCesar MontanoTessie OretaEduardo OrpillaJohn Henry OsmeñaFrancis PangilinanZosimo ParedesProspero Pichay Jr.Aquilino Pimentel IIIRalph RectoSonia RocoLuis SingsonAdrian SisonVicente Sotto IIIAntonio Trillanes IVManuel Villar Jr.Victor WoodJuan Miguel Zubiri
SELECT Senator 11Edgardo AngaraBenigno Aquino IIIJoker ArroyoMartin BautistaFelix CantalAlan Peter CayetanoJoselito CayetanoMelchor ChavezAnna Dominique CosetengMichael DefensorRuben EncisoFrancis Joseph EscuderoAntonio EstrellaRichard GomezGregorio HonananJamalul Kiram IIIPanfilo LacsonLoren LegardaOliver LozanoVicente MagsaysayCesar MontanoTessie OretaEduardo OrpillaJohn Henry OsmeñaFrancis PangilinanZosimo ParedesProspero Pichay Jr.Aquilino Pimentel IIIRalph RectoSonia RocoLuis SingsonAdrian SisonVicente Sotto IIIAntonio Trillanes IVManuel Villar Jr.Victor WoodJuan Miguel Zubiri
SELECT Senator 12Edgardo AngaraBenigno Aquino IIIJoker ArroyoMartin BautistaFelix CantalAlan Peter CayetanoJoselito CayetanoMelchor ChavezAnna Dominique CosetengMichael DefensorRuben EncisoFrancis Joseph EscuderoAntonio EstrellaRichard GomezGregorio HonananJamalul Kiram IIIPanfilo LacsonLoren LegardaOliver LozanoVicente MagsaysayCesar MontanoTessie OretaEduardo OrpillaJohn Henry OsmeñaFrancis PangilinanZosimo ParedesProspero Pichay Jr.Aquilino Pimentel IIIRalph RectoSonia RocoLuis SingsonAdrian SisonVicente Sotto IIIAntonio Trillanes IVManuel Villar Jr.Victor WoodJuan Miguel Zubiri

House Representative
SELECT RepresentativeCandidate 1Candidate 2Candidate 3Candidate 4Candidate 5Candidate 6

Governor
SELECT GovernorCandidate 1Candidate 2Candidate 3Candidate 4Candidate 5Candidate 6

Vice Governor
SELECT Vice GovernorCandidate 1Candidate 2Candidate 3Candidate 4Candidate 5Candidate 6

Provincial Council
SELECT CouncilorCandidate 1Candidate 2Candidate 3Candidate 4Candidate 5Candidate 6

Mayor
SELECT MayorCandidate 1Candidate 2Candidate 3Candidate 4Candidate 5Candidate 6

Vice Mayor
SELECT Vice MayorCandidate 1Candidate 2Candidate 3Candidate 4Candidate 5Candidate 6

City/Town Councilor
SELECT City/Town CouncilorCandidate 1Candidate 2Candidate 3Candidate 4Candidate 5Candidate 6


(Warning: form doesn't work. clicking on vote will bring you back to this blog)

Crazy, eh? Can you imagine any software application or online business surviving with this kind of an interface? You would lose the user by the first three selections. Plus, the plethora of categories and options literally cheapens the choice of the user and spreads thin the user's judgment and discernment.

Now this is just a dummy form but I think it represents what the user encounters not only at the voting booth but throughout the electoral process.

The UI offers choices but really no credible information about the choices at the point of selection. We expect the user to make sense of all the choices. One might argue that that is the primary task of citizenship: to make an informed choice -but the UI inherently frustrates any possibility of full informed choice.

The problem is four-fold: 1) we ask the user to make too many choices from too many options; 2) we don't provide clear criteria for the selection; 3) the user likely has very little direct information (first hand experience) about the options presented; and, 4) there is delayed feedback on the effect of the choices (if there is any feedback at all).

To design an effective system, you would need to address three key criteria:

• limiting the choices the system demands from the user
• providing direct information and criteria to the user about the choices
• insuring direct feedback to the user on the effect of the choices

An effective system would meet the three criteria and also address the two issues I outlined at the start of this series. Issues that I believe lie at the heart of the matter. We want a system that allows us to:

• select good leaders
  
• prevents corruption (or suspicion thereof)
  

Addressing the two issues would be the goal of the new system design - the key criteria would be the guiding principles of the new system design.

Echoing the previous explorations, the new system should also: 1) reduce the barriers to entry; 2) preserve the value of each vote while negating the effect of a large electorate; 3) remove the power of the intermediaries and aggregators; 4) break up the oligopsony; and finally, 5) eliminate the noise in the system.

(Stay with me. I end this series with: 7.2 - A New Design for Democracy)

* If by any chance you confuse this with the unicameral-vs-bicameral, or the presidential-vs-parliamentary debate, read my very first post on this series.

indulgence

This was just fun.

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anything they can do...

Some notable articles from the latest Sustainable Transport e-update of the Institute of Transportation & Development Policy:

• Guangzhou Announces BRT Implementation, Bans Motorcycles
• Guayaquil, Ecuador Receives 2007 Sustainable Transport Award
• Jakarta BRT Expands to Seven Corridors
• Bus Rapid Transit in Johannesburg: Implications for Mini-bus Taxis

What particularly caught my eye were the lessons we could pick up from our neighbor, Jakarta, that only started implementing its TransJakarta Bus Rapid Transit three years ago but already has 4 lines in operation and will expand the system to 7 lines and 120 kms by year's end.

Four years!! At (most likely) one tenth the cost of light rail! Compare that to how long it took us to get LRT 1 and 2 and the MRT off the ground!

Commissioning the 7th line by year's end "would make TransJakarta the world’s largest BRT system." And that's still less than half the target network of 15 lines called for by the city’s Transportation Master Plan.

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso also "described plans to begin implementing road pricing this year, which aims to reduce congestion on key travel corridors while raising financial resources for improving the quality of mass transportation services."

Taking their cue from London's Congestion Charging, the road-fees will go to improving mass transit.

Meanwhile, Johannesburg gives us a model of participation and politics in implementing BRT.

In November 2006, Johannesburg City Council approved a full BRT system, to be called Rea Vaya, which is scheduled to open by April 2009.

...

A key selling point for (Johannesburg Mayor Amos) Masondo was the possibility of incorporating the existing minibus taxi industry into the new system as private operators. During apartheid the minibus taxi industry was one of the few places where black South Africans were able to invest. After the African National Congress took power, in order to prevent the creation of powerful mafias, no owner was allowed to own more than ten vehicles. Because of their quasi-legal status, these minibus fleets could never become formal sector businesses. Currently, Johannesburg has one public bus operator and one private bus operator, both of which are subsidized by the Municipality, and many small fleets of minibus taxis that are not subsidized. Rea Vaya will encourage the existing minibus operators to form themselves into legal companies, and bid on the operating contracts, putting them on a level playing field with the current bus operators (emphasis mine-udc).
...
The long-term vision is to develop a system that places over 85% of Johannesburg’s population within 500 meters (.3 miles) of a Rea Vaya trunk or feeder corridor.

We could build support for BRT systems in Metro Manila by encouraging existing bus and jeepney drivers and operators to form consortiums that will bid to operate the lines. The government can provide tax incentives and facilitate the importation of (prescribed) buses and build the stations.

The formula is win-win -the new consortiums would be great at encouraging SMEs and moving our transport operators into more sustainable capital formation. It will also be a great opportunity to move our drivers into salary systems and move away from the traffic inducing boundary system.

Now if we could only get someone to pay attention...

Image credit: a Jakarta BRT station, from the Transjarkata Thread at Skyscraper City.

SC evicts pandacan depot

The Supreme Court, granting the original action for mandamus filed by the political party Social Justice Society (SJS) and Manila residents Vladimir Cabigao and Bonifacio Tumbokon, ordered the immediate removal of the oil depot as stipulated in City Ordinance No. 8027.

From the balita.ph:

The SC held that "there is nothing that legally hinders Mayor Atienza from enforcing Ordinance No. 8027."

As the father of the city, the SC added, Atienza should protect the safety of his constituents.

"The City Ordinance No. 8027 is a measure enacted pursuant to the delegated police power of local government units to promote the order, safety and health, morals and general welfare of the society," the SC said.
...

Ordinance No. 8027 reclassifies portions of the Manila districts of Pandacan and Sta. Ana from industrial to commercial, and directs certain business owners and operators, including Caltex (Philippines), Inc., Petron Corp., and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. to cease from operating their businesses within six months from the ordinance’s effectivity date.

The ordinance was approved by the Manila City Council on November 28, 2001 and took effect on December 28, 2001.

The oil depot covers about 26+ hectares (with another 9+ hectares further up river). That's an area half the size of Salcedo Village in the Ayala CBD, so that's a lot of commercial real estate.

Of course it's a brownfield, and will require major cleanup before it can be redeveloped. Luckily we don't have to reinvent the wheel, there are models for redevelopment of decomissioned oil terminals.

I hope the city government sees this as something more than just another major real estate deal. It could be a great opportunity for generating market rate and affordable housing, providing much needed open spaces and community amenities, and opening up the Pasig River waterfront.

More about this story from Manila Bulletin.

Image credit: Google Earth.

freeze frame

This is way cool. The latest sat images of Metro Manila on Google Earth capture a plane just about to land on the runway at NAIA.

You can see it on Google Maps via this link.

Or you can download the kml file here.

Here's another tidbit: did you know that NAIA doesn't have it's own website?

And this ridiculous line from the wikipedia entry on NAIA

The airport is also connected (emphasis mine-udc) to the Light Rail Transit LRT Yellow Line by a two-kilometer taxi ride to Baclaran Station. In the future, another LRT line is to be constructed to connect LRT Yellow Line's Baclaran Station, nearer but still indirectly, to the airport's 3 terminals.

So much for being connected. If we can't even think about connecting our transit modes, how can we even think of connecting to the world?

retrospective

Getting locked out of my blog gave me time to go back and put labels on some of my old posts. Using the labels, the new blogger also allows me to post a retrospective of some of the serial topics.

Here are some of my favorites:

1. design of democracy (6 posts)
2. disorganized transport (4 posts)
3. filipino architects (3 posts)
4. heritage and rent control (4 posts)
5. rethinking our streets (3 posts)
6. seeing the city (6 posts)
7. urban sketch (3 posts)

It's also a way to nag myself to close the circle on the uncompleted series (and that'll be #1, #3, #6 and #7).

The last installment of the series on the design of democracy should be out soon.

I'm also considering starting a series on megacities - to show the common issues we face with our sister megapolitans around the world.

Image credit: Looking Back by thecarneys23

what, not where (4): filipino architects as innovators

The same good people who brought you Design Like You Give a Damn, will soon (March 8) bring you, the Open Architecture Network.

The blurb on the site:

"How do you improve the living standards of five billion people?

"With 100 million solutions. Your solutions."

Which is Idea #3 -and my last post on this series that is a rejoinder to Paulo Alcazaren's "Where are the Filipino Architects?"

My contention is the question should not be "where," but should instead be "what."

IDEA #3: What can Filipino Architects do? They can be innovators.

There has always been a tension in the field of architecture that revolves around the question: Are architects artists? Or are they craftsmen and artisans?

The answer, of course, is both. All the starchitects of the world started out as drafting monkeys. And because of the adulation, the temptation for all architectural students is to aspire to reach that kind of recognition. (Which is probably the recognition Paulo is talking about when he asks his rhetorical "where?")

To rise above the cacophony of the our cities, the aspiring starchitect wants to stand out by creating buildings that express his deep intellectual artististry.

I have nothing against that. Iconic building define place. But real cities cannot be built only of iconic buildings.

The Guggenheim crowns the success of Bilbao, it did not predicate it.

Yes, Metro Manila could use an iconic building or two -and yes, it would be nice to have a Filipino architect's name propelled to the heights of cultural stardom. But the bigger problem staring us (and our sister megacities) is the challenge of turning our squalid slums into livable communities. Over and above a policy solution, that challenge requires a design intervention.

The Open Architecture Network defines the challenge of our day as such:

One billion people live in abject poverty. Four billion live in fragile but growing economies. One in seven people live in slum settlements. By 2020 it will be one in three. We don't need to choose between architecture or revolution. What we need is an architectural revolution.

The U.N. Millennium Development Goals aim to "achieve improvement in the lives of 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2015." Reaching this goal will require a profoundly new approach to improving the built environment.

The Open Architecture Network aims to be just such a catalyst for change.

Think of it. Instead of expending their collective hearts, minds and souls into finally building that one iconic building that will define us, our art and our culture -that one building that will maybe house 100 people or 100 corporations; Filipino architects could instead take to solving the problem that is confronting and will confront Two Billion People Around the World.

What if a Filipino architect could become the Muhammad Yunus of architecture?

How's that for long term impact? How's that for monumentality?

(And the great part is that our own megacity could be a living laboratory for this change. The best solutions will come from the people who live with the problem.)

map of future forces affecting education

This via CEOsforCities: it's the 2006-2016 Map of Future Forces Affecting Education by Knowledgeworks Foundation and the Institute for the Future. Thought Willy Priles, TeacherSol and the good folks at the Pinoy Teachers Network would appreciate it.

What are the forces shaping education?

It could be video games. Bioengineering. Or health care. All of these forces and more are explored on the KnowledgeWorks Foundation and Institute for the Future 2006-2016 Map of Future Forces Affecting Education.

...

The map is a forecast — a credible, internally consistent view of how future forces will affect the components of public education. It is not a prediction; it does not claim to be a certain statement of what will happen. As a result, the map is most helpful if users do not quarrel with the forecast. Since the future as spelled out in the map might plausibly happen, you can make use of it to spark your thinking about education, regardless of whether or not the map turns out to be a perfectly accurate prediction.

One of the values of a map like this is that it allows you to hold in your mind, at once, the complexity of several forces of change. After familiarizing yourself with this high level overview, you'll be able to dig in deeper to specific spots on the map, and play with interconnections across the map. This process can stimulate discussions that allow for new insights about the future of education and new strategic decisions about your organization's plans and actions.

This, under "New Localism"'

Local value grows
Economies of group connectivity—combined with fears of globalism, political gridlock, and concern over dominance of big business—will create a revival of localism.

And this under "Lightweight Infrastructures"

Infrastructures are flexible and localized
In a world of rapid urban growth, constrained urban resources, and increasing mobility, building and maintaining basic infrastructure will be an ongoing challenge. The concept of permanent, large-scale infrastructure will likely give way to more temporary, localized, and ad hoc solutions—in effect creating temporary structures for bounded purposes or lightweight, portable, and personalized infrastructures. This is true for infrastructures like telecommunications and energy, but will be increasingly true for social, economic, and political structures as well like micro-finance and micro-insurance, home-based health care, small schools, and even micro-learning structures. Technologies and structures that were once intended to provide independence for rural areas could well become tomorrow’s urban solutions.

Why is it on this blog? 1) I like maps -they help us understand complexity; and, 2) in a very physical way, schools shape cities (and, of course its citizens -and ultimately, civilizations).

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going mental (5) the slice is not the pie

Next time you hear yourself or someone else complain and make a sweeping generalization ascribing all the problems of Metro Manila to some inherent fatal flaw in the national character, think about this James Surowiecki gem from the last August's issue of The New Yorker:

"People are generally bad at accepting the importance of context and chance. We fall prey to what the social psychologist Lee Ross called “the fundamental attribution error”—the tendency to ascribe success or failure to innate characteristics, even when context is overwhelmingly important. In one classic demonstration, people shown a person shooting a basketball in a gym with poor lighting and another person shooting a basketball in a gym with excellent lighting assume that the second person hit more shots because he was a better player. This problem is compounded by the tendency to extrapolate big conclusions from small samples, something that behavioral economists call “the law of small numbers.”

The article is about the woes of Airbus but it's insight is so applicable to the quick conclusions that people make about Metro Manila. Think about that quote and then think: 500 years, 11 million people, 17 jurisdictions...

Image credit: A Moon Over the Metro by Parc Cruz