US-based e-democracy guru Steven Clift blew into London today with a gust of enthusiasm for citizen-led online forums to help underpin the effort by government to make councillors and officials more electronically accessible.
Over the past few years the UK government has spent £4 million on e-democracy pilots, well displayed on the national local e-democracy site.
Today's focus was on the one element of the programme that is about citizens talking to government on their own terms, rather than the other way around.
Steven has been circling the globe for eight years on a personal e-democracy mission since pioneering work in Minnesota. Most of that time it's been message: use new electronic tools to engage and empower citizens. Create spaces for discussion and collaboration. Do it in a way that is government and citizen friendly. Use generic tools.
Today at a meeting at the Local Government Association he was able to both summarise e-democracy good practice around the world, and also offer some e-democracy-tailored product to those who might say 'great idea Steven, but how do we do it?'
As Steven said, there are many online tools, and these need to be mixed with the other ways in which people talk to each other, and with the officials and politicians who should serve their concerns.
However, he was able to demonstrate the GroupServer software that enables pilot projects in Newham and Brighton and Hove to create issues forums around local concerns. The open source software, developed in New Zealand, is a great combination of email and web functionality - but is only part of the picture. Just as important is the process of recruiting local participants, agreeing groundrules, and moderating proceedings, all set out on a guide (download pdf).
The best way to judge whether it is working or not is to take a look at Newham and Brighton and Hove discussions. I think it is pretty high-level discussion as these things go ... but at this stage should declare an interest. I was particularly glad to see old friends Richard Stubbs from Newham (left in picture), and Mark Walker from SCIP (right) with Steven because I had worked with both nationally and locally in the mid 1990s on local online communities - when I also met Steven. The software and guidelines are fine - but it's people like these three who hold fast to a vision over the years that really make things work.
What was interesting today was to sense the shared vision between these pioneers, and others present in national and local government.
There was acknowledgment in the discussion that e-democracy, as currently operating, is pretty limited. Issues forums appeal to those who are literate, confident online, loquacious and prepared to step up on the electronic soapbox. There is still a big gap between 'offline' community engagement and politics and e-democracy. E-democracy can be disconnected from the realities of local decision-making. Even if the council is involved, many other important agencies may not be.
But it is a start, and there's lots else to be shared in the e-democracy toolkit now being developed from the pilots.
The big challenge now is twofold: how to connect with offline participation, extend the tools to include more storytelling, multimedia, and fun stuff; and how to move from pilots to all areas. Fortunately there seems to be a willingness from local and central government to form some partnerships to do that. The best thing about e-things is you meet collaborative people.
There's a Quicktime clip video clip of Steven here, grabbed on my Nikon S1... not great quality, but amazing what you can do on a compact camera now. Couldn't resist it. Essential e-democracy tool. (Large file which I'll compress further later.)
Originally posted at Partnerships Online
Previously: Time to open-source local e-democracy
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