Alpha testing of InterMix
To participate, please sign up either as a Big-Endian or a Little-Endian. (Click in and then press the "Join" button on the left.) In our alpha test we are debating whether the big end of the egg should be up in the egg cup or the little end.  OK, so maybe it is a little simple-minded, but it is all meant in fun.  Please do sign up and help.  We are proceeding in three stages.  Until Thursday, April 4, we are having open-ended discussion.  Then for one week until Thursday April 11, we will collectively set a particular topic for discussion.  Finally until Thursday April 18, we will discuss the topic we set and expect to see resulting "winning" messages for each of the six voices of humanity as well as for the two "Endian" groups. 

Beta Testing begins later this month (May, 2013)
Here is a new 18 minute audio introduction to InterMix Voices of Humanity Social Media.  The text of the talk is also available.  Send requests to participate in the beta test to Roger Eaton.  Links to join up directly will be available after mid-month.

The Basic Idea behind InterMix Online Social Media
InterMix is simple: participants write a message and then read and vote on each other's messages. InterMix brings in multiple groups giving each its own "collective voice" while also recombining the groups to create six Voices of Humanity: for Women, for Men, for Youth, for Experience (middle-aged), for Wisdom (senior) and for Humanity together as One. 

The UN Day Trial Run
InterMix debuted with the election of a strong heartfelt message for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on UN Day 2011 under the auspices of the United Nations Association of San Francisco. We had hoped the message would be delivered to the Secretary General by the UNA-USA office in New York. Understandably, the UNA-USA office has decided not to deliver the message. We had only 30 participants, for one thing, and also, our message called for clean food and water for everyone, and while UNA-USA definitely supports that goal, it is not on their list of priorities. We will be back for UN Day 2013 with more participants.

The Plan for  2013
The next step will be the election of two messages to UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet, one from the particfipating women and one from the men. Please watch this short speech by Michelle Bachelet for International Women's Day, 2013.  Participants will be encouraged to read the UN Women Focus Areas web page for topics for their messages.  It is quite possible that Ms Bachelet will step down to run again for President of Chile.  In that case we will address our messages to her replacement.  As of mid-March, 2013, Ms Bachelet has indeed decided to resign.  She will be missed!

For UN Day 2011 trial run, we had input from the United Nations Association (UNA).  For the Michelle Bachelet messages, the United Religions Initiative (URI) will join the UNA as a second group. To be clear, the "Send a Message to Michelle Bachelet" online event is not a project of UNA-USA nor of the URI global organization. At this point it is the UNA-SF that is sponsoring, though with wider UNA participation, and for URI, we have the OK of the URI Women's Coalition and many URI members signed up to take part. 

The plan is first to prove the software in a testing period. Then, we will go ahead and elect the two messages and do our best to get them on Exec Dir Bachelet's desk. There is no guarantee she will respond.  In fact no likelihood, it has to be said. This project has not been cleared by UN Women nor by Ms. Bachelet herself and the UN by its nature has to move carefully and slowly. However, if, as is likely, we get two outstanding messages from the process, that will open up a possibility that UN Women can be persuaded to look at the Voices of Humanity software as a potential bottom-up global feedback/advisory mechanism. At the very least, the participants should appreciate the value of the exercise and we can collectively assess the process afterwards and decide how best to proceed.

How it will Work
Groups and discussions are the basic building blocks of InterMix. Groups may participate in multiple discussions. Discussions may have multiple participating groups. Since we are just starting up, we have only two groups as yet, "Voices of UNA" and "Voices of URI", and just one discussion, "Voices of Humanity". An InterMix discussion may take a vote in a "decision period" and that is what we are going to do to elect our Michelle Bachelet messages beginning in June or July 2013l.

As in the UN Day 2011 election of a message to Ban Ki-moon, the election of a message to Michelle Bachelet will keep track of the votes by gender and age group (young, mature, senior), as well as by group. Two messages to Ms. Bachelet will be elected in hopes of getting her response, a women's message written by and voted on by women, and a men's message. Other messages of interest will be available, including: the women's and men's message for UNA and for URI separately.

Sign up will be available on this page for both URI and UNA groups later this Spring. 

About InterMix
InterMix is community software designed to promote a gentle human solidarity. We are open source at github under the AGPL license.  The intention is to progress to a collective intelligence capability, but we begin with the more doable collective communication function.