At some time in the distant past, every country made its own decision about the side of the road on which its people would drive their carriages. In his essay The Dangers of Traveling by Road in Other Countries, Eddie Wren notes some modern consequences: "Many British people have been killed in America (and vice versa) because they looked the wrong way when driving out of an intersection/junction and were hit by a vehicle that was coming from the 'wrong' side."

Add all the other countries with differing standards and you have a very deadly problem, one that would have been solved if everyone had got together on a simple global standard. But even if the makers of those original side-of-road decisions had all had the will to agree on one side, left or right, worldwide, the means of arriving at a global consensus simply didn't exist.

The system of governance used by Osmio and its Standards Department can change all that. That system is called Optimocracy.

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While it's (probably) too late to change the physical highway's protocols, we have an opportunity to rationalize the way our Information Highway works, at least for those who voluntarily choose to accept the governance of Osmio's Standards Department.

Why Standards Bodies Don't Work

In centuries past, standards (good and bad) were often simply created by edicts from unaccountable monarchs and dictators. In more enlightened times, standards were the result of protracted struggles and compromises among interested parties that took place in standards bodies. One result of that process is a set of jokes such as, "A camel is a horse designed by committee." In creating standards, differing opinions are much less unhelpful than competing agendas.

Designs are Collections of Standards

Product makers know that the best designs come from a single mind. If the world's information infrastructure had been designed in the way the iPhone and the rest of Apple's infrastructure had been designed, it would be more efficient, manageable, and secure.

But the designer of Apple's infrastructure was accountable only to Apple's stockholders. While its users can "vote with their feet" and choose products from another company, product makers seem to treat their users' personal information as a money making asset on the company's balance sheet. App builders are required to abide by a set of rules, which is good, but those rules are as much about profits for the infrastructure owner as they are about benefits for the user.

Open source does provide an alternative. But it's an ungoverned alternative, leading to inconsistencies in the way the pieces attempt to fit together.

Since Osmio is owned by its residents, and since Osmio is an optimocracy, anyone can participate in Osmio's standards process. Thus the infrastructure owner is the individual user who benefits from its design.

Optimocracy is not the simply electronic democracy. In an optimocracy, anyone can be a member of any of its governing commissions, provided that they participate in a verifiable way in the proceedings of the commission. A commissioner must digitally sign the various checkpoints in discussions and must vote in a timely manner in order to keep their place on the commission.

Digital signatures imply digital identity certificates, and indeed ID certificates of measurable reliability are an essential part of optimocracy.

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Governance of Standards in an Optimocracy

While every commission has an elected moderator, decisions in commissions other than standards commissions are largely a matter of consensus, the moderator's job being to facilitate that consensus.

Standards commissions are somewhat different. In a standards commission, ultimate design decisions are the responsibility of its moderator.

By vesting the final authority of each standards commission in one accountable moderator-designer-arbiter, Osmio's Standards Department brings us design integrity. Through an optimocratic process, the moderator of each commission is accountable to its commissioners, who have regular access to their moderator through the commission's debates. The moderator of standards must survive votes of confidence to continue in office. As long as she does so, his standards decisions are final.

To be a commissioner you'll need a willingness to commit significant time and effort to your chosen commission, and you'll need to show that you understand the subject matter. You'll also need to be a resident of Osmio or of a community that accepts Osmio's ordinances as its own. That, in turn, requires that you have an identity credential issued by the City of Osmio Vital Records Department, with an Identity Quality score equal to or greater than that required by the commission you wish to join.

Unlike other aspects of residence in Osmio, participating in a commission requires that your common name from your foundational credential be publicly disclosed.

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Four Sets of Standards

Authenticity

Authenticity starts with measurably reliable identities that allow their subjects to assert their identity without disclosing their identity. The Authenticity Infrastructure consists of six components, each of which addresses some aspect of identity.

Facilities & Professional Licensing

In the physical world, buildings provide spaces that are secure and manageable. Online buildings will provide precisely the same security and manageability in non-physical spaces. The InDoors Infrastructure consists of five components, each of which addresses some aspect of the security and manageability of online buildings (including one component that deals with the outdoor highway system which brings us to those buildings.)

Ontology

Lack of precision in the language of information technology has allowed vendors to lock in customers through obfuscation. The Common Vocabulary Infrastructure consists of a single component,  which brings the benefit of the standardization of terminology from the world of physical architecture, engineering and construction to the world of online architecture, engineering and construction.

Governance

Measurably reliable identities asserted from anywhere, will provide new opportunities for participatory governance. The Optimocracy Standards Commission produces and maintains a set of principles, policies and rules.

Design Roadmap: The Quiet Enjoyment Infrastructure

The Quiet Enjoyment Infrastructure (QEI) is an ID-PKI whose purpose is to bring Authenticity to online spaces. A byproduct of Authenticity is reliable information security.

QEI consists of twelve components in three groups. Click the "Learn More" link for the current QEI Roadmap.

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Optimocracy Parliamentary Procedures

Optimocracy is the system of governance used by the City of Osmio.

Policies and decisions are made by commissions

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Its procedures resemble those used by deliberative bodies, with some notable exceptions:

meetings are held strictly online, in synchronous or asynchronous fashion

Any resident of a community that is governed by optimocracy may participate in any of its commissions, provided they follow procedures that are designed to assess whether they have followed the issues and discussions in the commission.

Commissions are headed by moderators, who are elected by members of their commission.

The role of the moderator of a standards commission is different from the role of moderators of other commissions, in that a standards moderator has the final say on the adoption of a standard. The intent of that policy is to avoid a common problem in traditional standards bodies, which often suffer from committee-itis, where conflicting goals of competing groups must be accommodated in order to get an adoption vote passed. However, the moderator of a standards commission, like all moderators, is subject to recall at any time by a vote of the membership of the commission.

Professional Licensing Board

Before they may be occupied, all facilities in Osmio must carry a valid occupancy permit. The occupancy permit must be signed by the building inspector, who in turn must obtain releases from all licensed professionals who were involved in its design and construction and who will be involved in its management:

• Architect
• Structural Engineer
• Contractor
• Subcontractor
• Building Inspector (public code auditor)
• City Planner

In addition to a professional license, the latter two professions may be practised only by individuals who have been appointed to public office.

If you are involved in these professions and desire to practice in Osmio or in any of its administrative jurisdictions, or if you are applying for a municipal position such as building inspector (code auditor) or commissioner of any sort, you will need to obtain a professional license from this office.

What is required?

In order to obtain a professional license, you will need

A Digital Birth Certificate™ identity credential

• A suitable background, as determined by standards set by the various commissions and standards boards
• Evidence of an established record of integrity A passing grade on the
• appropriate licensing examination
• The various professional licenses in Osmio are valid for different periods, as set by the responsible commissions.

Applying For A License

To apply for a professional license, or to learn more specific requirements, please click on an item:

Attestation Officer
Architect
Structural Engineer
Contractor
Subcontractor
Building Inspector (public code auditor)
City Planner

Attestation Officers
Attestation Officers must first be commissioned as officers of the public (public officials) by the Secretary of State (in most jurisdictions) of the government of a geographic jurisdiction such as a state, province, or nation. As such, they must be empowered to administer an oath that places the affiant under penalty of perjury. In the case of some jurisdictions where notary commissioning standards are not strong, a notary public must be additionally certified as a Signing Agent or equivalent.

An Attestation Officer candidate must present a record of at least two years of integrity in active service as a notary signing agent or equivalent before applying for qualification as an Attestation Officer. An Attestation Officer must have the ability and equipment to video record the recital of an Oath of Identity, and to digitally sign the resulting file with their own Osmio VRD credential.

All Digital Birth Certificate™ credentials require an oath and affidavit, which in turn require (as do all notarial events) a face-to-face process, except in the case of the Virginia enrollment, where a commissioned Virginia e-Notary may perform the Virginia digital Birth Certificate™ enrollment procedure over a video link with the subject.

Other credentials that do not require a face-to-face enrollment session may be issued by commercial enrollment agencies licensed by the City of Osmio Vital Records Department.

Commissioners
To become a commissioner, you must

• Obtain a Digital Birth Certificate™ credential
• Learn the issues and positions that are being discussed in the particular commission by following the public debate, both synchronous and asynchronous
• Digitally sign discussion checkpoints and participate in votes within the time period specified by the rules of that particular commission.

See a list of current commissions.

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Professional Standards

The Department of Professional Authentication Standards is governed by a board consisting of authentication professionals of the highest standing. Its charter is to establish and apply a set of standards for the practice of enrollment of individuals in identity credential programs, as described in QEI’s Authority Infrastructure. See www.iccap.org for particulars

The City of Osmio maintains high standards for professional licensing, building codes, identity credentials, enrollment procedures and other important parts of the life of the community. The standards are developed both by the city's own Standards Board and in collaboration with other standards organizations.

Identity standards are particularly important to our city, existing as it does only in the online realm where we lack visual and aural cues to tell us who is in the room with us.