All are welcome to this facilitated group workshop on sharing and comparing experiences of group decision-making. Everyone who wants to gets a turn. The point is to explore the challenges of holding power together and add to people’s toolkit of collective sense-making, collective intelligence, and group decision-making approaches in order to enhance the ability of HOPE attendees to take collective action in whatever contexts they may exist within. Participants will see where the conversation goes regarding further exploration of specific challenges or entertaining ideas for addressing specific challenges.

Large groups of people are using open-source software to clarify their internal signal from noise, and by doing so, are bringing about a revolution in representation the world over. The simple idea of having a direct say over one's own future can feel very remote in today's democracies, but it's become possible in the last decade with technological innovation. Polis (OSS AGPLv3) is one such technology - a deliberation system - that is increasingly used by diverse, participatory pro-democracy movements around the world. Social movements and Indigenous nations have implemented Polis to augment their ability to understand their internal diversity and identify their shared goals en route to more effectively determining their own futures. Governments have implemented Polis to listen to their citizens and help their citizens hear each other, towards strengthening democratic processes and institutions - vTaiwan anyone? This talk will cover the basics of the technology and share stories of its impact.