Product/Design : Cairns

What Problem Does It Solve?: It overcomes barriers to engaging in collective action.

How Does It Do That?: This open source tool captures information about the way groups work together. Like a map, its unique visual interface allows participants to see what others are doing and to find and communicate with a community of practice. It also helps match those “doing collaboration” to those studying and documenting participatory practices.

Why Is It Different? : Cairns is the first knowledge management tool to use visual interfaces to connect the community of collaborative practice.

Who Will Use It? : All groups engaged in collaborative or participatory ways of working and all those wishing to find people, methods, tools and groups working in collaborative and participatory ways.

Implementations: Pilot implementations include groups working in:

• Labor organizing
• Deliberation and dialogue
• Democratic and E-democratic organizing
• Citizen participation and consultation
• Political activism

Other Potential Uses : While Cairns is currently being implemented to build and connect those interested in collective action, the software is a visual knowledge management tool that can be re-purposed to connect any knowledge network.

More Detailed Description : Cairns is based on a “taxonomy” of questions about the goals, organizational structure, tools, methods and output of a group. By answering these questions, participants “build a cairn” to describe their own work, rather than relying on third-parties to do so. Users of the software can search the Cairns by navigating a visual map of the “Cairnspace” and seeing other related projects. At every Cairn, users can add comments or create a weblog to create the conversation and build the community.

People can use the Cairns software in order to:

• Find people and projects in engaged in related endeavors
• Share best practices for collective action
• Publicize information about the way a group or project worked
• Get ideas for how to work within a group to make a decision or solve a problem
• Discover ways to use new tools and technologies to do group work
• Learn about methods for engaging in collective action
• Communicate with people with common problems

Lead Designer : Beth Simone Noveck

Sponsors: Cairns is sponsored by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Council of Europe, AmericaSpeaks and the New York Law School Institute for Information Law and Policy.

For More Information: Contact Beth Simone Noveck, bnoveck@nyls.edu