Inspiration
Our public debate shouldn't be this bereft of great ideas. We have the tools to solve this problem in the form of social voting, version control, and activity feeds. I want to build a community that rewards ingenuity in solving issues we all face, not vanity politicos and trolls in comment feeds. There's no reason we can't do better than this, and solving this problem in a good way has potential for both social and serious economic value.
What it does
Users can create "stubs" of public proposals to fix problems that matter to them, like "Create a tax on high-frequency trading to fund poverty alleviation programs." Other users can then offer suggestions to expand on that idea. Those with specific expertise can work on eventually drafting the best ideas into legislative proposals. Passive users can browse what people like them are following, upvote or comment on ideas, and be informed as ideas grow.
How I built it
I taught myself Meteor, MongoDB, and Javascript more broadly to make this project a reality. It's still very much in the works, but I'm pushing to produce an MVP and eventually seek seed funding.
Challenges I ran into
Basically creating GitHub/Git-style version control in a way that can support a large community that also expects rich content embedded in these ideas is going to be a challenge, but I'm starting small. Also, developing a UX model that can support engagement across what could become very large pieces of content is no small feat.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
Learning Javascript from scratch, and becoming a full-stack developer over the last 9 months. I've gotten to learn Meteor top-to-bottom, am rapidly becoming pretty fluent in React, and have dabbled in Ionic, Cordova, and Swift in the process. It's been a wild, exciting ride. I'm also inspired by the super-positive response I've gotten from initial user feedback on the concepts.
What's next for Civable
Get an MVP out the door, iterate to a great model that resonates with a community pretty frustrated with the level of current public debate, and generate seed funding to expand to other platforms and scale. If you'd like to work on fixing real problems rather than creating the next to-do list app or Tinder clone, love Meteor/Node.js/reactive programming, and want to make something that matters, let me know!
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