Issues Forums By Steven Clift, E-Democracy.Org. Issues Forums Steven Clift, Publicus.Net Agenda...

Issues ForumsBy Steven Clift, E-Democracy.Org

Issues ForumsSteven Clift, Publicus.Net

Agenda

• Introduction• British Expedition• How Issues Forums Work• Participant Interviews• UK Pilots and Products• Analysis

• UK Panel and Discussion• GroupServer Demonstration• What’s Next for Issues Forums in the UK?

Doug Grow, Most read newspaper columnist

Quotes, Council member Carol Johnson:

“They've got public officials twisted around their little fingers."

The British Expedition


UK ODPM/E-democracy Project Visit

• July 2004 visit by ODPM and UK Local E-democracy National Project Visit

• Met forum managers, and citizen volunteers involved with local forums in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Winona

• “Gathered” samples to plant back in the UK

Images from Northfield.org Visit


E-Democracy.Org History

• Launched world’s first election-oriented web site in 1994

• Included citizen-to-citizen MN-POLITICS e-mail discussion forum, people kept talking

• Model localized with 1998 launch of Minneapolis Issues Forum

• Volunteer-based, non-profit community organization


Why Issues Forums are Needed

• Effective citizen engagement – any time, anywhere agenda-setting

• Share community knowledge of public leaders and active citizens with all – civic learning

• Openness and accountability – accountability of citizens, the local media, and government


Why Issues Forum are Needed

• Most non-partisan “e-democracy” efforts are government-based, need cost-effective complement to e-consultations

• Most citizen efforts have a view point and advocate politically – often anti-something

• Many local forums are anonymous rough and tumble exchanges – “privately owned” spaces, few offer e-mail options

• Cost-effective starting point – provides e-citizen foundation for additional activities like …

How Issues Forums Work


PersonalNetworks

Citizens

Starting with “private” citizens moving toward public e-citizens

Extensive personal e-mail networks exist –

friends, family, co-workers



Local E-Democracy group creates the public “space”, defines charter (scope)

PersonalNetworks

Citizens

Issues ForumGroupServer e-mails posts

web view



PersonalNetworks

Citizens


web view

Subscribe onceCommitment secured

Recruit citizens, councillors, media, etc. with “sticky” opt-in




• Participants agree to rules– Sign real name– Post no more than twice a day– Stay within scope of charter– Understand that with two warnings they can be

suspended for two weeks, three warnings six months, etc..

– Forum is facilitated, NOT pre-moderated, those posting content are 100% responsible for what they post


Position forum in center of real

power

PersonalNetworks

Political Activist

Reporte

rCiti

zen

#1

Mayor

Citizen #2

Candidate

Res

earc

her

City Council

Neighborhood Leader

Student

Forum M

anager

Citizen

#500

Craz

y Pe

rson

Citizens


web viewPost via e-mail/web

e-publish, many-to-many



How Forums Rock and RollAgenda-setting

discussions, “e-mail leaks,” facilitation and rule enforcement key

Leader’s Office

“SecondaryNetworks”

e-mail forwardsmedia agenda-setting

Council Department

PersonalNetworks

Local MediaCoverage

Political Activist

Reporte

rCiti

zen

#1

Mayor

Citizen #2

Candidate

Res

earc

her

City Council

Neighborhood Leader

Student

Forum M

anager

Citizen

#500

Craz

y Pe

rson

Citizens


web view

Online discussions in the heart

of local power

Subscribe onceCommitment securedPost via e-mail/web


Dori from St. Paul

• Active citizens and “average” citizens raise their voices

• Ten minute “GSE” (Gopher State Ethanol) video at

– http://e-democracy.org/experience

• Dori Ullman raises her voice about the stench

http://e-democracy.org/experience


Jamal from Minneapolis

• Large Somali community in Minneapolis

• Their “voice” was missing despite outreach

• Bus strike provided motivation and real world reason to join and post to forum


Mayor Rybak from Minneapolis

• In 2001, RT Rybak announced mayoral candidacy on forum before press conference

• Continues to post ~monthly

• Video clips– The Seven O'clock Meeting– Budget Issues - Informing– Let’s Ski - Gathering Ideas– Two-way Won’t Kill You


From Southwest Journal newspaperby Martiga Lohn

Most days, mpls-issues is a substantive discussion of important public policy issues…However …here are a few excerpts from this burning issue>Go to hardware store…buy trap…set track…kill squirrel. End of public policy question. >Grab a trap and KILL the squirrel????????? Why must we destroy a living thing as a solution?>Rocky and his friends are out of control. … If you want

evidence, try to eat a sandwich on a bench in Loring Park. >Quit telling people to move their nasty attack squirrels to wooded areas (i.e., Minneapolis parks) — we already have our fair share. >I ran on an anti-squirrel platform for Student Legislature at Syracuse University in my freshman year in college. I promised to eradicate the nuisance squirrel population. It was my first election loss.

Squirrel Story

UK Issues Forums


UK Issues Forums

• Call for interest – Brighton & Hove, Newham emerge

• Guidebook produced– Steering committees– Charter and rules– Forum managers– Recruitment– Launch and facilitation

• GroupServer used, released open source• Case study, evaluation, multimedia, etc.


Brighton & Hove Today


Newham Today

Analysis


Creating “Public” in Private e-Life

• Online Civic Communication Model 1994-98

E-mailForum

Group communicationremains highly private via e-mail without public spaces

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

vs.


One-way versus Forum Dynamic

• Online Civic Communication Model 1998+

IssuesForum

One-way content, semi-public online advocacy expands

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

vs.

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

• As a whole, blogging, RSS, and aggregation of “what’s now” is fundamentally underappreciated


Value from Blogging

• Headline syndication – Blogs can share headlines and display current content

from other sources– XML-based GroupServer provides RSS headlines for

Issues Forums

• Aggregation – Sites like Technorati allow searching of “World Live

Web”, E-Democracy Forums Today page– Aggregation strategy – both display of local feeds, like

future local government or media headlines required

• Other standards – Pinging, Trackback, Permalink options etc. need to be

explored to position forums as ultimate many-to-many multi-editor blog


Forum Hosts - Media

• Media– Promotional ability for its own forums (about

40% online news sites in U.S. have them) is strength

– Normally promote or allow pseudo-anonymity and remove highly offensive posts

– Elected officials, much less, government officials rarely post

– Reporter use Issues Forums for story ideas and access to sources – rarely use their own forums (you don’t quote a letter to the editor)

– Media, could be important outreach partners IF forums not viewed as competitive effort


Example Media Forum

• A different kind of exchange …– Satire on media hosted forums about lamp

posts causing poor community behaviour ends with …

– Brighton Councillors are EVIL. They EAT BABIES and do other NASTY THINGS. They are the most EVIL people ever. All the nasty people of History – Hitler, Stalin, Jack the Ripper, Graham Norton – are NICE compare to the EVIL councillors, who are all WICKED.

– Despite satire, name calling is against E-Democracy rules.


Forum Hosts - Government

• Open forums are rare on government websites– Citizens often expect “service” when clearly paid for by

tax dollars– Issues of responsiveness censorship, control, liability– Fujisawa, Japan innovation – one column with

government selected topics and another for citizen driven discussions

– UK Local Authorities encouraged to host forums with E-Democracy.Org using citizen steering committee as essential management buffer

– Key complement to e-consultations, e-panels “chicken” – Issues Forums as “egg”

– Issues Forum approach may be adapted by anyone – our goals is citizen participation in local democracy

Issues Forum

Online Consultation

Online Civic Events

Hou

sin

g

Ed

uca

tion

Recy

clin

g

Gra

ffiti

Neig

hb

ou

rhood

1

Communities of Practice for

Policy Implementation

“Public Net-Work” or

Neighbourhood “community”

forums

Etc.

The big picture

someday? …


Forum Hosts - Others

• Individuals, community associations, small businesses, etc.– E-Democracy.Org/UK should organise and link

to similar many-to-many non-partisan/multi-issue and perspective local forums

– Need to respect different models, but web forums often lack e-mail access and many are “virtual ghost towns”

– Over the long-term, an open question is – Can we craft E-Democracy.Org forums as “public” parks or townhalls owned by the community or are they niche debate clubs of sorts

How to Start One


How to Start One

• Watch “Experience”– http://e-democracy.org/experience

• Read Guidebook– http://e-democracy.org/uk

• Join “Liftoff” – http://forums.e-democracy.org

• Contact E-Democracy.Org UK

• Volunteer-based model that requires at least 4 citizens on your local steering committee


How to Start One

• Recruitment phase essential – if local authorities fund start-up, this would be a key area to dedicate resources

• Forum manager volunteer role crucial – avoid professionalizing core Issues Forum efforts to keep model low low cost

• Add-on special events and consultations may require funding with stipends or compensation

• E-Democracy.Org hosts shared GroupServer platform, building “Rotary Club” like Chapter model, with perhaps 1 out of 10 participants sought as 25 GBP/year members for mostly local costs

Conclusion


Conclusion

• This model is about your local democracy – it must be authentically local.

• Together we can build a global model for local democracy in the information age.

• Everything:

– http://e-democracy.org/uk

UK Panel and Discussion


Panelists

• Richard Stubbs, Newham

• Mark Walker, Brighton & Hove

GroupServer Demonstration


GroupServer

• Open Source Tool – Value beyond E-Democracy.Org

• Details and Web Movie– http://e-democracy.org/groupserver

• Download and Official Home in NZ– http://groupserver.org

• Building user base and development community

http://e-democracy.org/groupserver

http://groupserver.org/

What’s Next


What’s Next – Discussion Starters

• What should be done to strengthen existing forums?

• What other communities are interested in forums?


What’s Next – Discussion Starters

• Is there interest and support for expanding outreach and start-up assistance across the UK?

• What GroupServer features/tools do we need to assist recruitment, management, and expansion?

Extra Slides


Strategic posting by councillors, etc.

• Lessons I’d like to get across to them …

– This is real, not obscure – “e-mail leaks”

– Rumors from offline world more easily squelched online where you can see them

– The media is watching (sometimes they feel scooped by citizens)

– Early and transparent engagement is often necessary to avoid public backlash, on the forum which can cause an exponential community backlash


Strategic posting by councillors, etc.

• Lessons from those “in power” who get it

– Monitor

– OK to actively reply privately

– Post publicly when strategic, let people know you are there

– “Ride the wave” and avoid tit-for-tat debating

Issues Forums By Steven Clift, E-Democracy.Org. Issues Forums Steven Clift, Publicus.Net Agenda...

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