• Complete Neutrality: The forum is not aligned to any particular opinion, school or methodology of Economics. Nor does discussion revolve around the writing of a single person or group.
  
  Instead, Economicate is purposely designed to encourage discussion between economists of all backgrounds and beliefs, and to voice the views of anyone who wishes to participate. This could attract a genuinely diverse and representative community, with members of all opinions and 'schools of thought' participating in the same place, discussing and debating freely with each other.
  
  
  
• Organisation: Economicate has the organisation to support efficient discussion of all aspects and fields of Economics, by a very large community. The forum is separated into various sections, rather than sharing discussion across generalised boards.
  
  A few major organisational features include
  1) Separate boards for every major field and subfield of contemporary Economics
  2) A separate "current events" board, encouraging rapid analysis and discussion of current events. Popular topics in this board may be moved to one of the field or subfield boards above.
  3) A separate "general discussion" forum, covering the definition and role of Economics, its relation to other disciplines and to social values, and the sociology of Economics.
  
  Please look around for yourself to fully understand the forum's structure.
  
  
  
• Flexibility and ease of discussion: Economicate provides fully-featured tools for writing posts. Furthermore, to add real flexibility, members can easily embed streaming video and audio (from major sites like youtube and vimeo) and images into posts. And members can also choose to describe their economic and political views and show them by every forum post they make, where it is easily visible to the community.
  
  
  
• A "website & blog directory" board, where members can publicise and discuss existing blogs and websites. Bloggers and web designers can also discuss their trade in the Writers' Corner.
  

My vision for Economicate

This is my actual vision for Economicate; realistic or not, perhaps it will convey where I am taking this site.

I see Economicate being a single place where economists all over the world can go to discuss/debate/teach/learn economics with a large community of other economists. This community will constitute members of all opinions and positions along the spectrum of Economic 'schools of thought'.

Within this community, discussion will encompass all aspects and fields of Economics, and will be organised adequately to make this as easy to browse and interact with as possible.

I imagine it attracting all levels of members; from Economics students to accomplished economists. And I imagine it becoming a place where these people can communicate and learn from each other freely and easily.

I do not see it 'replacing' other blogs and websites, but I do hope it could become a central 'hub' for the Economics community. People could then use Economicate to direct readers to their own sites.


Also check out the Principles of Economicate.




...But to reach its potential, Economicate needs your help.
If you could spare a few moments, it could really help turn Economicate into an active community.

• Please register today and make a post, or even start a thread. It may be a small community now, but if we all do this, you'll be part of an active community very soon indeed!
• If you're on facebook, please become a fan of Economicate, and invite your friends too.
• If you're on Twitter, you can follow Economicate, to be notified about every new topic - please tell your friends about this too.
• If you use del.ic.ious or other social bookmarking software, please bookmark http://economicate.org and share it with the world!

Remember, Economicate is brand new and the actual organisation and layout of the board is still under construction. If you feel a topic has been overlooked or misplaced, please bring it up in our "Forum Structure and Organisation" topic.


Feel free to discuss these points in here.