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"E-Democracy Meets E-Journalism: How the Net can support local and state governance and citizen engagement." In a presentation delivered Sat., March 21, 2009 at the Newsout.org symposium in Boston, by Stephen Clift, founder and board chair, www.E-Democracy.Org, provides 30 examples of ways governments can provide public information in transparent and useful ways via the Internet.
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e-democracy.org
E-Democracy Meets E-Journalism
How the Net can support local and state governance and citizen engagement.
Steven Clift, Founder and Board Chair
E-Democracy.Org
e-democracy.org
Outline
• Introduction
• 30+ Examples, 30 Seconds Each
• Questions:– What’s so essential that …– Will it really make …
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Hello
•It all started in 1994 …
•Government by day, citizen by night …
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A new Athens for Democracy?
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“News”
•Timely access to information so you can:– Know “what’s new” or what
someone else thinks is important– Be informed– Be entertained– Take action and influence what
happens next
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The Intelligence is on the Network
•Shared my assignment with 4,000+ people
•Are you aware of sites that do X or Y?–30+ Examples
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E-Alerts
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E-mail notices in St. Paul
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Digital Recording and WebcastingOregon and San Francisco require recording of all public meetings by law. Search “Kimo Crossman”.
Rule of law – See “Sidewalks for Democracy Online.” Need to require what is most important. What is?
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Miami Input on Strategic Plan
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Taskforce and Committee Tools
Need for tools for commissions and task forces – WordPress Blog example used by a sanitation district in Oregon
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Government Spending Information
State list maintained by Center for Fiscal Accountability
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Stimulus/Recovery Transparency
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Accountability• Deep Transparency – Yalova, Turkey
They provided access to:
•Council decisions
•Immediate flow of incomes
•Daily flow of expenditures
•Municipal Tenders
•Citizen applications and document follow-up
•Wealth Declaration - Increase/decrease of income and wealth of top officials (on left)
•US – FederalSpending.Gov
•Poland – FOI Laws Require Budget Information Online
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Alberta Gov’s Web Feeds
• Those little orange icons
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DC Direct Data Sharing, Mashup
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Oakland Crime Data from Police
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“Scrape and Bake” Crime Data
City responds with its owne-alert tool.
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Reusing Local Gov/Other Data
• Everyblock.com– http://everyblock.com
19
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Gov Data Reuse – UtahsRight.com
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MN DNR Lake Finder Multi Sources
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Democracy/Consultation Portal
• Queensland’s democracy portal, policy - AU– http://www.moundsviewschools.org
• Ask Bristol Consultation and Webcasting - UK– http://www.askbristol.com
22
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Legislative Online Public Hearings in Brazil
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E-Rulemaking• Democratized
navigation
• DOT Provides Public Access to Comments
• Regulations.Gov should
LiveVideo
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Schools and Online Engagement
• Moundsview Public Schools– http://www.moundsviewschools.org
25
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Schools and Online Engagement
26
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Live Rural Villages Town Meeting, India –
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Right to Petition Government
• What is the Magna Carta’s expression in 2007?
• U.S. petitioning mostly about e-mail acquisition for advocacy not listening or redress of grievences
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E-Petitions Hosted by Gov in UK
• UK Prime Minister’s E-Petitions– http://petitions.number10.gov.uk– Kingston upon Thames– http://www.kingston.gov.uk/information/your_council/epetitions.htm
29
7+ percent of British population have signed an e-petition here
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Community Wiki
• Kickapoo Valley, WI – Kickapedia http://kickapedia.wiki.zoho.com/Kickapedia-Home.html
• DC Gov We the People Wiki
30
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Maps, Camera, Mobile, Action
• FixMyStreet.com (UK) – mySociety.Org– http://fixmystreet.com
31
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SeeClickFix – MySociety.Org Inspired
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Congressional Tweets, Sunlight Foundation
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Deep Access and Accountability• Estonia’s Today I Decide, Document
Register, X-Road (below)
34
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E-mail Transparency in Palo Alto
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Gov Voter Guides in Korea
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Mobile Photos to Enforce Anti-Corruption Election Laws
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Local “Everywhere”
• AmericanTowns.com– Scrape Millions of Local
Events
• Topix .net– Host online news
comments
• Virtual Ghost Towns? Civil War?
• http://pages.e-democracy.org – search“social media”
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Changed.Gov? Need Democracy.Gov
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Citizens Online
•With my E-Democracy.Org hat on…
•Citizen engagement – community building as outcome v. “news”
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Private Spaces with “Public” Qualities – v. Online Public Spaces
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Need Public Spaces – Online Versions of Town Halls, Capitols
• Online public spaces, not just “public” commercial spaces
• Need for decorum, civility, agenda-setting, relevance, accountability
<- The Minnesota Capitol Rotunda
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Blogofest Destiny?
• Blogs democratize media, provide accountability• Compared to forums, most are highly individualistic often privately controlled spaces with some dialogue
• Need own blog to join the e-ristocracy
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Divided We Blog?
Source:
The Political Blogosphere and the 2004 U.S. Election: Divided They Blog
By Lada Adamic and Natalie Glance
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Connect
45
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Connect the Word• Blog
• Forum
• Online News/Blog Comments
• Chat
• Social Network
• Online Consultation
• Online Working Group
• Web Feed
46
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Creating Public Space
- Issues Forums
City Hall
“SecondaryNetworks”
e-mail forwards Civil Society
PersonalNetworks
Local MediaCoverage
Librarian
Reporte
rArt
s G
roup
City Councilor
Candidate
Local Biz
Ctiz
en #
1
Advocacy Group
Neighborhood Leader
Mayor
Forum M
anager
Citizen
500
Polic
e
Citizens
Issues ForumGroupServer e-mails posts
web viewSubscribe onceCommitment securedPost via e-mail/web
New Resident
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Conclusion
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Discussion Questions
• What is so essential from local and state government that it needs to be accessible 24 x 7 online?– With options for
• What’s new?• What’s changed? • What’s important (or what others think is
important)?• Who is trying to change/influence it?
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Discussion Questions
• (How) Will this make things “better?” What’s the outcome that justifies the investment in resources to make the best aspects of e-democracy universal?
– Best Practices v. Legal Mandates– Representative v. Participatory
Democracy– Informed v. Activated (Protest, etc.) v.
Citizen Problem-solving/volunteerism
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Links to Everything
• From:
–http://stevenclift.com
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Extra Slides
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Digital Parade – Social Networks
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FYI - Briefs and Case Studies• Case Studies
– Canadian International Policy eDiscussions
– Community Blogging - Northfield, Minnesota
– Community Forums and News in Subang Jaya - Malaysia
– Listening to the City - New York City
– Madrid Participa– NordPol - Northern
Denmark– Queensland's E-democracy
Leadership– Seoul's Online Policy Forum– Seattle's Online Civic
Engagement Initiative
• Briefs– Advanced Web Comment
Forms– Budget Proposals Online– Content Syndication– Community Portals– Democracy Portal– Democratized Navigation– Elected Official Videos– E-mail Response Policy– E-Newsletters– E-Notification– Geographic Personalisation– M-Democracy - Mobile
Content– SMS Citizen Input– Voter Education Online– Wireless Internet
http://dowire.org/wiki/UK_highlights
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Recent Articles
• Ten Practical Online Steps for Government Support of Democracy
– Part of new 47 page U.S. government publication about e-democracy titled, “How E-Government is Changing Society and Strengthening Democracy.”
• Also see - UK Local E-Democracy Project – See: www.icele.org
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Government Support for Democracy Online
1. Timely, personalized access to information that matters.
2. Help e-officials receive, sort and better understand and respond to e-mail.
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Government Support for Democracy Online
3. Dedicate at least 10% of new e-government developments to democracy.
– Not “services first, democracy later.”
9. Fund open source sharing internationally across government.
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Government Support for Democracy Online
4. Announce all government public meetings on the Internet in a uniform matter.
5. Allow all people to look-up all of their elected officials from the very local to national in one search.
6. Host online public hearings and dialogues
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Government Support for Democracy Online
7. Embrace the rule of law by mandating the most democratically empowering online services and rights across the whole of government.
– Open meeting laws, ethics information
8. Promote dissemination through access to raw data from decision-making information systems.
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Government Support for Democracy Online
10. Local up – Build a strategic approach to building local democracy online
– Absolute need for non-partisan, convening approaches
– Government, media, universities, non-profits, business all must contribute something
– Public interest use “of” the Internet not just “on” it
