Yup, this is meta. But it's meta that's trying to go someplace new.
I believe it could be helpful to develop a toolbox for exploring such questions as:
- "What purposes does DK achieve?"
- "How well does it succeed in them?"
- "How can we quantify that?"
- "Which purposes are in tension with each other?"
- "Which ones are most important?"
and also to extend such questions to the "micro" level: "What purposes does diary X achieve, and how well does it succeed?"
I think that Hunter was aiming in that direction in his Daily Kos 4.0 Suggestions Thread, but since he is in a position to actually implement changes for DK4.0, the discussion turned mostly to discussion of the functionality and layout of the site. Since I have no such power, perhaps the discussion I'm starting here will take a different turn.
Let's do some brainstorming before I move to some "case studies." Unfortunately, we can't all sit in one room and shout things out, but I'll share my ideas and I hope you can add to this list in the comments.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Daily Kos as a whole, or a particular diary, can do the following. I've arranged the list roughly in increasing order of "hardness" (tangibility) of achievements, to the extent that this is possible. (I wouldn't say, for instance, that raising money to get a campaign going is more or less tangible an achievement than rounding up a bunch of canvassers. But both are more tangible than getting people to laugh or shake their fists at their computer screens.) I would argue that it's a good thing for individuals and their diaries to move up the tangibility scale with time. But that's a discussion for later.
Entertain (build individual psychological health)
- provide reading on non-political issues
- link to videos
- allow people to vent/rant
Build communities
- counter isolation
- build a virtual community
- build a physical community
- build issue-oriented groups
- recruit previously uninvolved people
- connect to issue-oriented groups
- connect to party organizations
- serve as a greeting board
Work out strategy
- try out new frames
- become familiar with terms
- teach people how to persuade those not solidly in our camp
Serve as a portal to other media
- national mainstream traditional media
- advocacy journalists in national traditional media
- smaller blogs
Serve as a place for writers and readers to find each other
- give writers a chance to receive acclaim
- give writers a chance to hear constructive criticism
- encourage new writers
- present autobiographical and biographical accounts
- publish interviews
Inform/teach
- raise awareness of an issue
- raise awareness of an organization
- raise awareness of an upcoming event (hearing, rally)
- serve as a search tool
- serve as a research tool
- give readers a new skill
Serve as an incubator for other media
- national mainstream traditional media
- advocacy journalists in national traditional media
- smaller blogs
Connect officials or candidates with their constituency
- induce readers to contact politicians with request to promote, modify, or oppose legislation
- familiarize readers with politicians' names
- introduce politicians to people who could serve as (paid or unpaid) liaisons
- allow politicians to explain their actions to the community
- allow candidates to introduce themselves to the community
Raise money
- serve as a fundraising tool for campaigns
- serve as a fundraising tool for permanent organizations
- serve as a fundraising tool for immediate causes (e.g., Katrina)
- provide a means to market purchasable products (books, T-shirts)
Foster activism (e.g., canvassing)
- offer opportunities for activism
- provide a means for training activists
- offer a place for people to report on their activities
- provide a means for activist mentors and "mentees" to find each other
Encourage readers to join the political process
- serve on campaign staff
- run for office
MEASUREMENTS
Ultimate quantities to measure
Some of these quantities are metrics (measurable) in themselves, while others would need to be gauged indirectly via other metrics (listed below).
- message familiarity/saturation
- diversity of writers (distinct individuals, representation of groups defined by age, geographical location, race, ethnicity)
- diversity of readers
- diversity of topics
- match between quality of content and attention received
- "reproducibility" (likelihood that the attention received by a diary would not vary widely at random, or depending on circumstances such as time of day)
- connections with other groups
- time lead over other media with respect to breaking news
- impact on policy
- distracting effect of trolls, real and alleged
- recognition/familiarity factor
- time required to write a diary
- time required to attract a large audience
- relationship between effort invested and attention attracted
- length of involvement of participants
Areas within which to measure
- front page posts
- open threads
- recommended diaries
- rescued diaries
- all diaries
- dKosopedia
Metrics
- poll answers
- recommendations
- comments
- number of registered readers
- tips
- number of page hits
- quiz answers
- time lead of stories before they appear in other media
- membership of site
- number of paid members
- income from ads
- server traffic
- membership of groups founded here
- membership of groups advertised here
- length of time required to perform a search
- total number of diaries on site
- proportion of people who provide their e-mail address in their profiles (thus making themselves available for further networking)
- current activity of people who joined at different periods
- distribution of subjects within the recommended list (or rescue list, or high-impact diaries, or total list of diaries)
- "pickup" effect: diaries picked up and "rebroadcast" elsewhere (other blogs, other media)
- money raised
I'm going somewhere with this, but I'll leave that to a later diary. For now, I'm curious to see what your reactions are to the idea of tangibility as a (personal or site) goal, and whether you have any contributions to the list.