Six Degrees of Ron Paul

[J Free]

I have a blog-based website up already - http://ronpaulcolorado.org - and an idea for leveraging some of the core attributes of RP supporters - our eagerness to tell people why we support Ron Paul (or why others support Ron Paul) and our online presence.

The idea is an online way that we can track our online communications and visually see how our efforts snowball through 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc degrees of contacts. To link the idea of six degrees of separation and the RP grassroots. For example, where I could send an "I supported the war in Iraq but I support Ron Paul" testimonial to my friends. Where they could either send them on or pick from a different group of reasons as to why they support Ron Paul. People would be able to check back periodically to see how their own efforts snowball. And people could opt to be known to other very local RP supporters (who might not be a part of meetup or their own network of friends).

In sum, this is a way that we can see how we individually really can and do make a difference, motivate us to do more, expand our meetup groups, hook up with local RP supporters we don't know if we don't do meetups, etc.

There is an open source software that tracks this and it seems to have worked for a couple of charity/activist drives. But I am out of my depth when it comes to technical stuff. Either in installing it or in doing what might be pretty significant customization. And I'm sure there are issues I haven't even thought of.

Both the software and my site are mySQL, PHP, Linux, Apache. In truth, this project might be too big/late but there's no way of really knowing unless I can get some feedback from folks who understand some of the details.

I would really really appreciate if people who are interested and/or who have the above skills could contact me via pm or via email at yibberat at yahoo dot com. I can then explain the idea a little more and show you some of the examples. If you have ideas for different kinds of "I support Ron Paul because..." letters it would be good to see them here.

[J Free]

bump

[TVMH]

I like this idea...my meetup organizer today said she knew someone that works for the company that I used to work for...not terribly uncommon, but it goes to show that we are not as disconnected as "some people" would like us to believe.

Is there any way you could turn this into a game and display the 6-degrees of separation graphically? Maybe with a searchable database?

I'm talking outta my ass now, cuz I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no database games. :cool:

[J Free]

Yes it can be competitive (ie who is contacting the most people, who has the best friends of friends of friends network, etc). Yes it can have a geographic display.

Here is an example of it in implementation - http://speakup.oxygen.com/campaigns/neworleans/

I think some things need to be done differently - but some of the major elements here show the concept. But I really need some php/mySQL folks to help scope out the project to see how big it is.

[SwooshOU]

A visual social network of where the RP message needs to spread and what tools are availble... cool.

[rs3515]

But I really need some php/mySQL folks to help scope out the project to see how big it is.

I like the idea and I have php/mySQL knowledge, but unfortunately I don't have time to commit to such an effort. However I'm open to exchanging messages to brainstorm ideas. Some ideas I have include maybe posting on Craigslist that you're looking for php/mySQL resources for a political volunteer effort where they can learn a lot of great skills (resume building) or through the php or mySQL forums, or possibly through sites that offer contractors.

[J Free]

Thanks for the ideas re craigslist and the php forums. I'll pm you re a couple of questions I have about scoping the project out