E-Democracy.Org - The Public Issues Forum By Steven Clift (Board Chair, E-Democracy, )

E-Democracy.Org- The Public Issues Forum

By Steven Clift

http://www.publicus.net(Board Chair, E-Democracy, http://www.e-democracy.org)

Copyright 2003

http://www.e-democracy.org/

Building the CommonsCopyright 2003, Steven Clift, Publicus.Net

Minnesota E-Democracy• Minnesota E-Democracy

World’s first election-oriented web site in 1994 … sites 1994-2004

• … so what?


E-Democracy.Org

• 1994 – Election information, online candidate debates, political discussion

• Election Over … People kept talking.


E-Democracy.Org

• 1994 - today …

• Hosting “Public Issues Forums” – the online public commons

• State-wide Discussions – Information Exchange– MN-Politics-Discuss – 450 Members– MN-Politics-Announce – 600 Members– MN-Politics-National – 150 Members– E-Democracy Legislative Study Group

• Election Content Promotion, Online Candidate Debates


E-Democracy.Org Today• Local Forums – Model went local in 1998

– Minneapolis – 900 Members– St. Paul – 375 Members– Winona – 250 Members– Twin Cities Metropolitan Issues – 200 Members– Chicago chapter organizing

• Facilitation, Board role, governance

Understanding the Public Issues Forum


Building Public Issues Forums• Build the Public Issues Forum

– Related terms: Agora, Demos, The Forum, Town Square, Town Hall Meeting, Public Sphere, Public Space, Online Commons

• Goals– Create an online center of real community life online

where views on local issues can be publicly exchanged. – Create the ability for new ideas and information to enrich

local life and decision-making. – Connect the Public Issues Forum to online consultations,

communities of practice techniques, social software, etc…


Building Public Issues Forums• How?

– Succeed with active citizens first. Open to all, but most citizens will remain skeptical until results are demonstrated

– Build on the two-way nature of the Internet– Convenience - use e-mail-based group “publishing” at its

core

• Why?– Informs, educates, and activates– Expand diversity of dialogue, counter media

fragmentation– Create opportunities for public agenda-setting


Finding Models to Extend

• Where do vibrant local e-forums exist today?– Neighborhoods everywhere, under the radar

• Adams-Morgan, Washington, DC• Cleveland Park, Washington, DC

– Cities, city-wide e-lists are rare, very special• Minneapolis, St. Paul, Winona - Minnesota• Arlington, Massachusetts• Knoxville, Tennessee• Tripoli, Lebanon

– National, Global?• e-thepeople.org – News talk, events (web)• UK OpenDemocracy.Net – Articles and discussion (web)• Regional media sites, but many have closed – no profit• Many partisan, ideological forums exist, news groups too

– We need a global directory of _local_ online forums

http://www.excelgov.org/displayContent.asp?Keyword=ppp010101

http://www.publicus.net/

http://tripoli-city.org/



http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AdamsMorgan/



http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cleveland-park/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cleveland-park/


Not One to Few• No, not like Hyde Park

– Not one to few (or few to many)

– The local Issues Forum seeks to connect many-to-many indialogue not ranting and flaming

– Other online places, such as newsgroups, majority of weblogs provide an online Hyde Park

– Even the pigeons look disengaged


Public Issues Forum - Mpls• Example forums

Since 1994, must be doing something right!

•

• Mayor links to forum,launched campaign on forum in 2001, media covers power of forum


Public Issues Forum – St. Paul, Winona• Links from community TV, city council in St. Paul

Winona shows model in small city ~30,000 population


Creating “Public” in Private e-Life

• Online Civic Communication Model 1994-98

E-mailForum

Group communicationremains highly private via e-mail without commons

Issues Forum serves as public group communication organizer, multiplier, and amplifier; “leaks” back into private communication

vs.


Public Issues Forum Close-up

• The Forumas multiplier,best contentforwarded

Mayor’s Office

“SecondaryNetworks”

City Department

PersonalNetworks

Local Media

Political Activist

Reporte

rCiti

zen

#1

City Staff

Citizen #2

Candidate

Res

earc

her

Council Member

Neighborhood Leader

Student

List Manager

Citizen

#500

Craz

y Pe

rson

Citizens

Issues ForumE-mail group server sends posts direct to people and web archive

Send-Receive Public Sphere

You subscribe onceCommitment madeMay post via e-mail

Everyone is a

citizen!


One-way versus Forum Dynamic• Online Civic Communication Model 1998+

IssuesForum

One-way content, semi-public online advocacy without the issues forum

Forum diffusion, viable two-way options tied to online advocacy and one-way content

vs.

What’s Next


What’s Next• Local chapters next … organized by active citizens anywhere.

Want to start one in your city/area?

• Updating mission, goals, and objective for our second decade

• Significant “eWeb” technology upgrade to match sophisticated facilitation/governance model – must allow full e-mail participation with better web access and contextual online services – http://e-democracy.org/center/technology.html

• Building FROM the essential local forums to support online events/consultations, a global democracy directory, and topical local/global information exchange and citizen participation

Public Issues Forum

Online Consultation

Online Civic Events

Hou

sin

g

Park

s

Recy

clin

g

Gra

ffiti

Child

care

Communities of Practice for

Policy Implementation

“Public Net-Work”

Etc.

The big picture

someday? …


Related Resources• E-Democracy Research Links

– http://www.e-democracy.org/research

Includes great academic articles and more.

• Start an Online Commons (9 tips)– http://www.e-democracy.org/do/commons.html

• A Wired Agora (the Minneapolis story)– http://www.publicus.net/present/agora.html

• E-Democracy Thrives in Winona– http://onlinedemocracy.winona.org/startup.html

• E-Democracy Training– http://www.e-democracy.org/center/training.html

http://www.e-democracy.org/do/commons.html


Further Information

• Democracies Online Newswirehttp://www.e-democracy.org/doOver 2500 people around the world exchanging announcements, news, and articles related to e-democracy, e-government, and e-politics.

• E-Democracy Resources Flyerhttp://publicus.net/articles/edemresources.htmlLinks to the top e-democracy starting points on a two page flyer available in HTML, Word, and PDF.

• Publicus.Net http://www.publicus.netMore articles and presentations by Steven Clift


Bonus Slides

•Ten lessons from E-Democracy.Org’s first decade


E-Democracy.Org Lessons• 1. Declare victory. Set reasonable expectations. Building

momentum is more important than immediate success. Answer why question every step of the way. Goal: To improve the outcome of the public policy process with effective and meaningful citizen participation.

• 2. Many-to-many discussions represent the unique strength of this new medium. One-way content is a carry over from old media and political communication. Geography matters. The more local, the more relevant to a broader cross-section of the population.

• 3. Facilitation is essential. Moderation is not (meaning prior review of messages before they are distributed – moderation is huge bottleneck, time commitment). Focus conversations on issues to overcome personal and ideological conflict.


E-Democracy.Org Lessons• 4. Building civic space is a public good. Non-partisan, advocacy

neutral online public spaces for information exchange will not exist without public interest efforts.

• 5. E-mail is king. Participants and readers are key to value. Value of e-mail and convenience is supreme, often underestimated. Web-only systems tend to work with larger audience sites, highly motivated users, or for special online events and consultations.

• 6. Sustainability. Promoting self-governance and volunteer spirit key to sustainability.

• 7. Scalability limited by current all-volunteer foundation. However, complete professionalization of facilitation would make expansion unaffordable while professional training and outreach required.


E-Democracy.Org Lessons• 8. Expansion requires resources for coordination, training,

promotion, distributed management/facilitation and adjudication.

• 9. Technical barriers exist. Use of proprietary software tools and lack of access to technical expertise to adapt open source options limits our advancement as well as the long-term potential of our model to expand in a cost-effective way within and beyond Minnesota.

• 10. Conversation has value. Think agenda-setting among opinion leaders and media. Build respect among participants and foster public opinion formation. Worry about the direct influence on government decision-making process later.

Documents

E-Democracy.Org - The Public Issues Forum By Steven Clift (Board Chair, E-Democracy, )