People in Negotiated Texts

Throughout the platform round icons are events relating to individuals and their right to have an opinion in particular debates:

Person joining a committee

Person leaving a committee

Person elected to a position

Roll-call

Parchment-coloured, square icons relate to the creation and amending of documents:

Create a new proposal

Create a new document that is a line-by-line revision of another document (noted by the pen icon in the corner)

Document amendment proposed

Document taken from another committee (note arrow in corner)

Amendment taken from another committee

Debate a proposal

Documents that have an explicit subtype can be displayed with a slightly different icon:

Legislative text

Formal Resolutions

A message to be sent elsewhere

A petition to be considered

Rules and Orders of Business

Diamond-shaped, purple icons relate to decisions taken:

Drop a proposal

Refer a proposal to another committee

Adopt a proposal

Other vote (continue debate)

Reject a proposal

Postpone a debate

Blue, hexagon-shaped icons relate to 'procedural' proposals that do not directly alter text but affect how a committee does its work (and are usually used only for transient things, such as a point of order.)

Procedural motion

Procedural motion with sub-decisions

Debate on a procedural motion

People

Any negotiation requires people. The people taking part in a negotiation typically represent particular interests or regions. Different people play different roles in a negotiation: Some will be active speakers or active in drafting formal text, while others will be quieter, or be more active behind the scenes.

All these people must be willing to submit to the rules of the process, and they must be accepted as the legitimate representatives the groups or interests for which they speak. Typically, negotiations bring together actors that are members of distinct delegations, such as the delegations that made up the Constitutional Convention, where each state sent many members, but where each delegation had only one vote. In other processes, members of the negotation function as separate individuals.

The expertise, interests, and personalities of those involved in a negotiations process will affect how the various different participants interact.

What can I do with Quill?

Quill enables you to:

see the people involved in the negotiations processes, their roles and activities
check if members:
- belong to a delegation
- join a committee
- leave a committee
- propose a proposal
monitor up to four different person events captured inside the Quill platform:
- A person joining a committee.
- A person leaving a committee.
- A person elected to a position during a session.
- A roll event that taken at the start of the session.

Exploring the Constitutional Convention through the Quill platform

The Quill platform provides a variety of tools to explore the contribution of individuals and delegations, and links to resources about them held elsewhere. For example: