On-LIne Governance

-Democracy (On-line governance), NLC, November 16, 2007
Basic Assumption: Same principles apply to on-line governance as to actual democratic government
NLC.Org (Democratic governance panel)
www.studycircles.com
www.inforen.org
Leighninger, The Next Form of Democracy
Helpline.deliberative-democracy.net
Common pitfalls
-Hoping technology by itself will change the dynamic
-Structuring groundrules can change conversation
-Assuming public officials are “experts”
-Unproductive confrontation
-Believing “if you build it they will come” (same old people will come!)
-Failure to “label and link”
Let people know you heard them and you are listening
-Concentrating on input and not on partnership possibilities (“government can fix that”)
SOLUTIONS
-Invite participants to meet prior to on-line discussions (avoids “inpersonal” etc.)
-Inform how input information will be used (input without stating this may lead to frustration)
-Respond to all input-even if just say “I heard you”
-Information Technology used different at City level
-All forms available on web site
-All policies on web site (that are public record)
Listening
-Provide detailed information on issue, ask for response/comments on those parts of the issue
PROBLEMS:
-“E-spam” etc. (Require registration)
-Organized responses
-Allow comments only from residents?
-If post for comments-Emphasize NOT a vote!
FOLLOW UP on comments
Comments: Since we are considering this, this session was especially important. Actually, I talked with our IT person who does our website and she bought up enough problems that I am not considering this any more at this time.