tyaga.org

Now that I have finished concentrating on other projects and commitments, I look forward to continuing tyaga.org’s development work. One of the web sites that I visited recently was the community way (CW) in Comox Valley. The information design aspect that caught my interest was the ‘current numbers’ page with links to a graph and spreadsheets.

What follows is not a critique of the reporting system design as used by CW – for all I know, that design serves CW’s needs perfectly. I also do not question the community emphasis of the CW currency system and I sincerely would like to see such a system succeed wherever it is implemented. My goal in offering the following comparative analysis is to better explain the technical nuances behind tyaga’s evolving IS design requirements.

It has become obvious to me that the use of offline transaction instruments, such as minted notes, checks, or store-and-forward devices, could not be tracked efficiently and would not be conducive to the development of dynamic currency brand reporting systems. So while my earlier design notes referred to the importance of offline devices, I have since revised the technology requirements to focus on online devices. The most promising device in this regard is a basic cell phone with SMS capability, which is already widely deployed and inexpensive to own. While a QR-code app is not required to post transactions through SMS, a camera phone with that capability would simplify data entry and transfer between transactors.

Another design change, as described in a recent post, is the use of public keys for better non-repudiation and auditing capabilities. The example index on this site clearly illustrates the required tracking and metrics at the level of an entity, as represented by its currency brand, and not simply aggregated for a whole community as shown in CW’s current numbers graph. I am not sure of CW’s requirements for auditability, but tyaga’s design requirements include the auditability of any published performance and evaluation information for each entity.

Finally, it is clear that an under-developed reporting system does not hinder CW’s implementation. In contrast, a robust and dynamic reporting system is required to implement tyaga’s concept of spontaneous, targeted non-cooperation against specific currency brands. A currency brand index, constructed with dynamic information from reporting systems, should help participants make informed decisions on whether to accept or reject a currency brand in a transaction.

Again, I applaud CW as one of the rare, actual, working implementations of alternative trading systems. At the same time, I am reminded that there are not many development or implementation efforts that seek to address tyaga’s main information systems requirements.

I have recently come across Postel’s Law, which is typically quoted as: “Be conservative in what you do; be liberal in what you accept from others.”

This is also known as the Robustness Principle. It reflects tyaga’s vision of how independent currency brands should operate and interact: “Be strict in setting your own limits and performance, be tolerant in accepting other currency brand’s limits and performance.”

In other words, in order to promote the adoption and spread of independent currency brands, it is important to expect that most entities will likely have poor performance relative to its initial budgets. The important thing is to observe work with dedication and perserverance, and not to expect immediate success. A dynamic index is therefore a means for evaluating the progress of an entity through its currency brand, and not a means for avoiding transactions that could help another entity reach its goals. Something to think about when studying and promoting the use of dynamic indices.

A heavily revised Prowl protocol is now available for demonstration.  An announcement is available at a prowl-users group, which was set up to encourage discussions on publisher and reporter standards that different currency platform applications could support. It is hoped that different accounting models, with specifications on what parameters to track and metrics to calculate, will be developed and supported by Prowl reporter applications.

Please find time to try the demo and send in your comments.

I am still working on an extensive revision of Prowl. I am quite optimistic about the latest changes, as I’m beginning to see how the use of a publisher-reporter model to coordinate separate development efforts could help encourage collaborations across different currency or payment frameworks. More details to follow in about two weeks.

I have a created a mock-up of an independent currency brand (ICB) index here. The ICB index is a desired end result of the Reporter Module, as far as back-end programming is concerned. This demo is not as interactive as I initially planned, but it should do for now. The fourth quarter is coming up, so I need to review my Q3 results and reprioritize once again. More updates later.