Redefining Politics Part 2 - A New Political Ontology

8/6/2019 Redefining Politics Part 2 - A New Political Ontology

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RedefiningRedefiningPolitics 2:Politics 2:

A New PoliticalA New PoliticalOntologyOntologyCopyright 2011, Semantech Inc., All Rights Reserved

Presented by Stephen Lahanas

Applied Innovation SeriesApplied Innovation Series


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2Copyright 2011, Semantech Inc.

Web Servers are one thing, Nuclear Reactors are

a bit more dangerous there are systems which

absolutely must not FAIL.

The Future Begins with an idea

Innovation represents the deliberate attempt tochange current reality.

Those who believe that things can be better or can

be done betterhave t

he motivation to pursuechange Innovation is the roadmap or blueprint for

that change.

The Future consists of thousands of such

blueprints coming together to build a new reality

InnovationWorx is dedicated to providing

consistent and actionable Innovation for you


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Introduction

Fora successful technology,realitymust takeprecedence overpublicrelations, forNature cannot

be fooled.

- Richard Feynman

Theres no field of endeavor where public relations

and reality tend to blur more than in Politics.

Th

ere is also no field of endeavor wheretechnology has had a more profound impact over

the past ten years and still has the potential to

transform it even more in the near future.


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OurPresentation

This presentation, the 2nd in our series Redefining

Politics, is dedicated to illustrating just how politics islikely to evolve through the application of emerging

technologies and how this will impact the practice of

politics and governance.

The presentation is grouped into three sections:

1. Semantics & Politics

2. Introduction of a New Meta-Ontology

3. Impacts & Implications

Politics dictate the course of our lives & the nature of

our society improving it will reap profound benefits.


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Why Politics needs to Evolve

In recent years, despite advances in online social

networking, there has been a steady increase inpolitical apathy. Much of this is based upon negative

perceptions associated with politics.

A key element associated with those negativeperceptions is the idea that ordinary people are

somehow left out of the discussion or simply cannot

decipher the truth of whats actually being said.

Political knowledge or information has too often been

based on hearsay, accusations and deliberate

falsehoods without providing mechanisms for

verifying claims or examining causal relationships.


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Those who are too smart to engage in politics

are punished by being governed by those who

are dumber. Plato


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The Future ofPolitics

The future is full of potential, but only if we act on it.

Politics traditionally has been slow to adopt newpractices and technologies.

Much of the potential associated with Politics begins

with the realization that this is a field that is entirely

driven by information. Once you accept that

(regardless of what you may believe about the quality

of that information) then it stands to reason that

information technology has the power to transform or

redefine many aspects of politics.

Examples of where IThas already begun this

transformation process include Internet campaign

sites, Data.gov, social networking & electronic voting.


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Its fascinating to witness how preliminary

forays into emerging technologies such asFacebook, Twitter and Youtube have already

shifted political practice and outcomes


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Politics & Technology

The most interesting opportunities for applying

emerging technology to politics relate to data /knowledge / semantic approaches.

The reason why is the ability to discover and visualize

complex relationships and provide more robust

frameworks for collaboration and problem solving.

Why is this so? The average citizen doesnt have time

to become a policy wonk yet all of those policies and

the policy dialog impact them. How do you makecredible information available that can support

discovery without having to obtain a degree in political

science Information Technology


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There is a 1 to 1 relationship between politics

and policy although this isnt always clear

from an outsiders perspective. PolicyManagement is already being automated in a

number of different industries & contexts


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Political Foundations

A Political Foundation is the conglomeration of ideas

and positions that are connected to a particularphilosophy, organization, individual or political party

(and of course a Foundation can span all of those

entities).

Political Foundations are Semantic in nature. Each

one contains: A unique organizing principle and core themes

which further define it (based upon shared political

dimensions).

A unique Lexicon.

A mapping between key positions or agendas and

expected policy outcomes.


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Political Frameworks

Political Frameworks represent the collection of tools

and knowledge developed atop the Political

Foundation.

A Framework requires a unique, detailed Political

Ontology to define all potential elements of politicalknowledge and action.

Political Frameworks are where political practice and

technology intersect. There is no one correct political

framework there will always be a collective of

competing frameworks or interests. Multiple political

frameworks can however be based upon one meta-

ontology.


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Political Framing

Frameworks and Framing are two very different

things. Frameworks are the underlying infrastructure

and Framing is a practice that exploits those

Political Framing is all about defining dialectic

boundaries. Framing activities build upon the PoliticalFoundation & Political Frameworks Framing

represents a Political Discipline or Practice.

Political Disciplines are different than PoliticalResources they consist of distinct process

methodologies. We will examine Political Framing in

Redefining Politics part 3.


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Section 1:Section 1:

Politics &Politics &SemanticsSemantics

Copyright 2011, All Rights Reserved Teksouth Corporation


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Politics & Semantics

Semantics is the study or science of meaning. It is the

basis of all linguistics (language), of culture and of

information technology (computational linguistics).

Politics represents a dialog within any given cultureabout how that culture perceives itself and how it will

operate and evolve. That dialog cannot exist without

Semantics.

Allourwork,ourwhole life is a matterof semantics,

because words are the tools with which we work, thematerialoutof which laws are made,outof which the

Constitution was written. Everythingdepends on our

understandingof them.

FelixFrankfurter


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Words matter they tie promises to policy, ideas

to action. If you cant define what you believe in,

how can it be expressed or supported?


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Part 1 of our Series

Part 1 of the redefining politics series introduced

a number of key concepts including Themes,Foundations, Framing and Frameworks. All of

these concepts are Semantic in nature and

linked throughOntology. These concepts define

both the nature and practice of politics.


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A New OntologyA New Ontology



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Political Lexicons

The traditional definition of Lexicon is that it

represents the vocabulary associated with a specificlanguage.

In our context though, Lexicons are more specific.

For example, professions such

as Law and Medicinehave their own unique Lexicons which can be further

sub-divided based upon areas of specialization.

In politics, there are quite a few lexicons and to some

extent these are dynamic. The reason why theyredynamic is due to introduction of new terms and

changes of connotation in old ones. This type of

lexical evolution does occur in other fields as well.


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What is a Political Ontology ?

Political ontology can refer to any part of the larger

political ecosystem or it can in this case refer to ametamodel for core political practice.

Examples of more specific Ontologies would be

issue / position ontologies.Th

ese could bedeveloped in a full spectrum manner or be separated

based upon political spectrum segments (or topic

segments).

Political Ontology is not just Lexicon orTaxonomy itincludes complex relationships. Ontology can be

modeled, visualized and converted to automated

exchange formats such as OWL orRDF.


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Why We Need a New Ontology

1. Because currently it is difficult or impossible to

efficiently coordinate political knowledge.

2. Because it will better support concept visualization

strategies and technologies that will greatly aid in

illustrating complex meaning or relationships.

3. Because it provides a more coherent basis for linking

politics and policy (governance), thus allowing for

both transparency and traceability.

4. Because it has the ability to better support wide-

scale collaboration and participation in political

processes.


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A Political Meta-Ontology


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Ontology of Practice

The diagram on the previous slide represents the

meta-ontology. It consists of two major elements; aResource Framework and an Action Framework.

The Resource Framework is the extended foundation

for all political knowledge and encompasses th

eorganizing principle, the core Lexicon and the basis

for all knowledge that might be developed.

TheAction Framework represents the element that

exploits the knowledge built within the ResourceFramework. It mirrors the systems and processes

that would be involved in managing political practice

or automating policy governance.


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Political Taxonomies

The main difference between Taxonomies and

Ontology is the nature of the relationships involved.Taxonomies tend to be more narrowly focused and

built around parent / child hierarchical relationships.

O

ntologies can include parent / ch

ildh

ierarch

ies butcan also be structured in other ways as well.

As an example we have taken a portion of the Meta-

Ontology and represented on the following slide a

strict hierarchical taxonomy focused on one part (orlogical slice) of the Action Framework. Ontologies

can be represented by specific data formats

taxonomies are more flexible in that regard.


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Impacts &Impacts &ImplicationsImplications



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The Impact ofPolitical Technology

Technology goes hand in hand with process both

are meant to serve specific mission areas.

Political Technology is no different except though it

has a somewhat higher level of visibility as it can

impact everyone living within the society where it is

being employed.

We contend that adoption of new technologies and

approaches has the ability to improve process and

that those improved processes ought to lead to

improved quality of outcomes.


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Opinions are provided to persuade. This is a key

component in our Democracy the notion of a free

and open Marketplace of Ideas. Successfulpersuasion is an ethical practice, deliberate

indoctrination or the stifling of opposing views is not.


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The Ethics ofPolitical Technology

Its important to take a moment to acknowledge that

any technology or practice approach if applied topolitics could be used for ethical or unethical purposes.

In politics, more so than in other fields of endeavor

many will feel that any means justify a specific end.

Ourhope is that to some extent a more open approach

to political knowledge will necessarily reinforce ethical

behavior. It should not however be confused for a

canon of ethics (w

hich

is also needed but falls outsideof this discussion). Technology can help to further a

more open political process, but it could be abused as

well and we must guard against that.


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In politics, much of what is said will not beagreed upon. However, the ability to say it

must be protected in order to maintain a free

society.


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Reality, Relativism & Politics

Nowhere is the concept ofRelativism (outside of

physics) more prevalent than in the practice of politics.Spin is makes politics what it is there are few areas

of definitive truth and lots of room for interpretation.

The highest goal that Semantics and a new ontology

supporting political practice can bring is the ability to

help ordinary people better navigate biased

perceptions and understand what makes sense in their

own contexts.

If we can empower people to think for themselves,

understanding the motivations behind what theyre

hearing we will achieve enormous progress.


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PoliticalArchitecture

One area of impact and of opportunity is Political

Architecture. What does this mean?

In the following slide youll see a couple of examples

of the types of visualizations most often associated

with political practice. The conventions used tend to

dwell on triad or quadrant type designs.

This is fairly limiting given the extraordinary

complexity of the subject matter being examined.

Political Architecture is an attempt to enhancevisualization capability through Semantic technology,

complex analytics and enterprise architecture

modeling principles.


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Political Architecture to date has been somewhat

simplistic and limited to a handful of standardconventions. If we are to utilize architecture to help

reduce complexity we must address the entire

problem space.

Political Architecture Must Evolve


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PolicyArchitecture

Policy Architecture is an extension of Political

Architecture in that it models policy but it alsorepresents the actual technical infrastructure used to

manage complex policies and policy-related data.

The following slide gives an example in the context of

a Logical Policy Architecture. This particular exampledoes not specify implementation but does illustrate

potential coordination and process across policies and

organizations.

Information Technology is already becoming very adept

at handling automated policy capability for other types

of business capabilities such as SOA infrastructures

and Cyber Security.


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Example Practice Spectrum Shifting

Spectrum Shifting is the deliberate process of moving /

adjusting the parameters of public discourse with theend result of moving all players within a political

spectrum in one direction or the other (Right / Left).

The rationale behind the practice is simple - if one can

change the parameters of the debate or discourse - itbecomes easier to influence the outcome of that

debate or discourse.

Spectrum Shifting can also occur naturally, but over the

past century or so one of the major goals of political

practice has been the ability to frame issues or

discussions. Successful framing (across a variety of

issues) leads to Spectrum Shifts.


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Who exactly determines what is Left orRight ?

Interestingly, the criteria for making those

judgments is somewhat dynamic (e.g. some of

the definitions have changed over time).


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Example Practice Connotation Shift

A Connotation Shift is when the meaning of a specific

word / term changes over time. In most languages thisis part of a normal Etymological process.

However, in politics there are often times when

practitioners wish to redefine their own views or

attempt to redefine the perception of someone else's

views. The most common example of this is taking a

word that identifies a particular position or philosophy

and attempting to add meaning or negative

perceptions to it.

While there are concerns as to whether this approach

is entirely ethical, it does fall under Free Speech.


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Politics is Power, Knowledge is Power

Politics can be knowledgeable, and when

people feel empowered they will participate.


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Conclusion

The InnovationWorx Redefining Politics Series willcontinue to examine the topics introduced in the

first two parts in more detail in future presentations.

Th

e goal of this series is to

highlight a newapproach to the practice of Politics and also to

illustrate an example of Applied Innovation.

SemantechInnovationWorx provides strategicpolitical consulting as well as policy consulting and

policy framework automation.


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Semantech Inc. is InnovationWorx

Semantech Inc. is a solutions provider founded in

2007. Our company is located in the Dayton, Ohio

metro area. Since our inception we have

supported clients in a more than half a dozen

industries nationwide.

Our company represents a unique approach

were not offering just IT or Management

Consulting. We specialize in facilitating complex

organizational Transformations. This is whyInnovationWorx was created. Semantech was

founded to facilitate change

Redefining Politics Part 2 - A New Political Ontology

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