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Transcript of Issues Forums - Online Town Halls from E-Democracy.Org
e-democracy.org
Your Voice. Your Community Online
Steven Clift and Steve Kranz, E-Democracy.Org
e-democracy.org
1. Introductions2. Citizen Media Examples3. Online Engagement -
Issues Forums Story4. Short Break5. Issues Forums – How to
e-democracy.org
Citizen Media Examples,Online Engagement “e-
democracy” context
e-democracy.org
Citizen Media
• Use of online tools by the public to express themselves, share news, etc.
• As individuals, as hosted by “media,” or via new associations
• “Rural voices” – Our interest is in local/geographic uses by local people for local people
e-democracy.org
Citizen Media Examples
• Local “Placeblog” – Pelican Rapids, Cass Lake• Local Flickr Photos – Bemidji, Grand Marias• YouTube – Minnesota Minute Video Contest – Tree
Climbing• Topix – PioneerPress Example• Local Wikipedia Pages – Bemidji, Leech Lake
Indian Reservation• Local Facebook Group – Bemidji, Cass Lake, Save
the Language• Dozens of rural Minnesota examples from:
– http://e-democracy.org/rv
e-democracy.org
Defining e-democracy• E-democracy is:
– the use information and communication technologies and strategies
– by “democratic sectors”
– within the political processes of local communities, states, nations and on the global stage.
– What’s missing?
Political Groups
Private SectorGovernment
Media and Commercial
Content
e-democracy.org
Defining e-democracy• E-democracy …
– is now, what kind is it?– is accelerating “as is”
politics– will promote active
citizen participation only by taking the “e-citizen” perspective
– E-Democracy.Org focuses on the that perspective, reaching across the political spectrum, embracing local geography
Political Groups
Private SectorGovernment
Media and Commercial
Content
E-Citizens
e-democracy.org
E-Democracy.Org Issues Forums
Steven Clift, Founder and Board Chair
E-Democracy.Org
e-democracy.org
The Problem
• Lack of Participation in Local Democracy– Time– Trust and accountability– Loss of civility– Sense your voice won’t be heard
e-democracy.org
The Problem
• Need to Make Participation More Effective– Timely access to information and
opinions when it matters– Openness and inclusion– Building social capital– Need more deliberative opportunities– People need to experience lasting power
and influence
e-democracy.org
We Are Building
• Any time, anywhere democracy• Two-way online town hall meeting
– NOT typical male-dominated political blogs (Hyde Park) or reactionary anonymous reader comments on news sites
• Demand for local information and news in a democracy
• Low-cost, volunteer-based, network of service club like local democracy committees – 10+ communities
e-democracy.org
World First – Democratic Roots•We created the world’s first election web site way back in 1994 …
•After the election, people kept talking in our Minnesota Politics forum.
•We realized that it was our job to be a trusted, neutral host of ongoing dialogue among those from diverse perspectives and backgrounds.
•Talk is cheap.Actually, “Conversation is cost-effective.”
e-democracy.org
Blogs are not everything.
Need to pick and choose among
multiple tools based on your goals.
Goal: Two-way local dialogue.
Tool: E-mail list/web forum
e-democracy.org
Need Public Spaces – Online Versions of Town Halls, Capitols
• Online public spaces, not just “public” commercial spaces
• Need– Decorum and civility– Local relevance– Agenda-setting and
impact on decision-makers
– Real names and accountability
<- The Minnesota Capitol Rotunda
e-democracy.org
Local Issues Forums
• The online town hall– City-wide, neighborhoods as well– Where is local power? – We place an
online public space in the center– “Government websites don’t have
sidewalks.” (Or public hearings online.)– Need for independent online spaces for
media accountability– Locally “owned” by civic-inspired citizen
committee as part of E-Democracy.Org
e-democracy.org
Some Stories• Dairy Queen in the public
parks– Park board members starts
discussion– Daily paper absent from board
meeting– Vigorous debate online gets in
paper– Decision reversed at next
meeting packed with the public
e-democracy.org
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
e-democracy.org
Jamal from Minneapolis• Large Somali community
in Minneapolis
• Their “voice” was missing despite past outreach
• Bus strike provided motivation and real world reason to join and post to forum
• Contacted by Mayor, media after forum posts
e-democracy.org
Mayor Rybak from Minneapolis• In 2001, RT Rybak
announced mayoral candidacy on forum before press conference
• More video clips– The Seven O'clock Meeting– Budget Issues - Informing– Let’s Ski - Gathering Ideas– Two-way Won’t Kill You
• More video:– http://e-democracy.org/experience
e-democracy.org
Issues Forums – E-Democracy.OrgRecent Topics
• Local schools• Support for area war veterans• Neighborhood park changes• Water quality and shortage• Crime and policing• Candidates and elections• Feral cat problem• Racetrack noise pollution
e-democracy.org
Issues Forums
e-democracy.org
Local Issues Forums Today• Minneapolis, MN – 969 members
– Seward NHood – 165 members– Standish-Ericsson NHood – 238 members – Powderhorn – Opening Soon
• St. Paul, MN – 590 members• Roseville, MN – 191 members• Winona, MN – 85 members (relaunch in progress)• Las Vegas, NM Start-up – 107 members• Central Ohio Region – 118 members
• Brighton and Hove, UK – 275 members• Newham, UK – 174 members• Bristol 3 NHoods, UK – 153 members• Oxford 3 NHoods, UK – 318 members • Canterbury (Christchurch), NZ – 227 members
e-democracy.org
Local Issues Forums Next• 3+ New rural Minnesota communities
– With interest, in this community with KAXE/MN Northern Community Internet connection
• 2 Minneapolis and St. Paul neighborhoods with high immigrant/low income/ communities of color populations – Cedar Riverside in Mpls, Frogtown in St. Paul, plus other neighborhoods
• 1 with KAXE in Grand Rapids, MN• Birmingham, Michigan• Interest in Bloomington + Mahtomedi, MN• More “neighbourhoods” in Bristol and
Oxford, England
e-democracy.org
How Issues Forum Work, Starting One
Steve Kranz
e-democracy.org
PersonalNetworks
Citizens
Starting with “private” citizens moving toward public e-citizens
Extensive personal online networks exist –
friends, family, co-workers
How Issues Forums Work
e-democracy.org
Local E-Democracy group creates the public “space”, defines charter
(scope)
PersonalNetworks
Citizens
Issues ForumGroupServer e-mails posts
web view
How Issues Forums Work
e-democracy.org
PersonalNetworks
Citizens
Issues ForumGroupServer e-mails posts
web view
Subscribe onceCommitment secured
Recruit citizens, elected officials, media, etc. with
“sticky” opt-in
How Issues Forums Work
e-democracy.org
How Issues Forums Work
• Participants agree to rules– Sign real name– Post no more than twice a day– Stay within scope of local charter– Understand they can be suspended for
violations
– Forum is facilitated, NOT pre-moderated, those posting content are 100% responsible for what they post
e-democracy.org
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
Gad
fly
Citizens
Issues ForumGroupServer e-mails posts
web viewPost via e-mail/web
e-publish, many-to-many
How Issues Forums Work
e-democracy.org
Issues ForumsAgenda-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
Gad
fly
Citizens
Issues ForumGroupServer e-mails posts
web view
Online discussions in the heart
of local power
Subscribe onceCommitment securedPost via e-mail/web
e-democracy.org
GroupServer – E-mail/web
• Easy to find – By geography
• E-mail or web- your choice
• Technology enhancements – Share through open source – Leveraging blogging standards, web feeds– More: http://e-democracy.org/groupserver
e-democracy.org
Sample Forum – Web View
Entering reply here
e-democracy.org
Sample Forum – E-mail View
e-democracy.org
Winona Story
Starting Point• City of 25,000• Existing channels of civic
engagement (newspaper, public meetings, speaking events, etc.)
• Reasonably accessible elected officials.
• Content
e-democracy.org
Winona Story
Goal To give everyone a greater voice in
decisions that affect the community, increase civic participation, and help encourage more input into solutions to local problems.
e-democracy.org
Winona Story
• Held and event like this.• Contact information was collected.• Invitation to follow up meeting to
discuss implementation in Winona.• Eight people attended & agreed to
form a steering committee.• Email list created for organizing.
e-democracy.org
Winona Story
• Created website with more detailed information, so that interested people could find out more.
• Virtual Door Knocking.• Recruited local organizations to do
virtual door knocking. (LWV, teachers’ union, city government, local universities) – 850 email addresses.
e-democracy.org
Winona Story
• Endorsing Organizations & Founding Members to build credibility.
• Offline recruitment: brochure, newspaper coverage, cable-access television, table events.
• Launched with 106 members.• First topic: What are the three most
important issues in the community?
e-democracy.org
Winona Story
Snapshot of First Eight Weeks• 238 posts by 53 different authors.
(4.5/day)• Participation included elected
officials and government administrators.
• Variety of Discussions, including:
e-democracy.org
Winona Story
Example Discussion Topics• Identifying dangerous intersections.
(mayor)• Improving digital divide. (county
human services)• Shortfalls in education funding,
rebuilding historic courthouse, plans to increase railroad traffic.
e-democracy.org
Winona Story
• Expanded to 230 people• Hosted mixed live/online events• National/International attention.
e-democracy.org
Our Approach
• Leverage democratic information from government, media, political sectors
• Open sharing of lessons, how-to• Open source software• Local up – do not colonize• Low cost – volunteer driven, shared
infrastructure and org. identity
e-democracy.org
Start Up Overview• 5-10 Person Steering
Committee• Volunteer Forum
Manager• Other participant roles• Recruit 100 initial
participants• Open forum and
facilitate• Enforce civility/scope
rules
e-democracy.org
Form Steering Committee
• A local “democracy committee” – based on the service club model – Lions,
Rotary
• Can form in association with related efforts – e.g. KAXE’s online community media initiative
• Needs convening spirit – Key to community trust is a mix of public
members not all part of one political faction
e-democracy.org
Drafting Your Charter
• Two-three sentence description will determine scope, set tone for years
• Longer charter is your local detailed description that guides the forum
• Supported by universal E-Democracy.Org rules (terms of participation)
• Use charter drafting to involve the community in a “what do we really want” conversation to ensure broad sense of ownership
e-democracy.org
Mapping Local Power
• Recruitment to make the forum “matter” politically is essential, best upfront
• Elected officials, community leaders, local journalists, active citizens
• “Average” citizens will not waste time in a forum that does not matter
• Work from the “center” and avoid marginalization
• Gives the deliberations reach and local agenda-setting power
e-democracy.org
Recruiting 100+ Members
• Build it and they will NEVER come
• Most similar efforts fail on recruitment not technology
• One at a time – In-person recruitment, community events
• Outreach - local media, “virtual door knocking”
e-democracy.org
Forum Facilitation
• Forum manager guides the forum, enforces the rules
• Selected and held accountable by local steering committee
• Peer training/support with E-Democracy.Org’s network of forum managers
• Issues Forum guidebook chapter, Minneapolis lessons: – http://e-democracy.org/if
e-democracy.org
Participant Roles
• Readers – Active “listeners” are crucial to forum’s value
• Opinionators – Everyday talkers, often have views on everything
• Starters – Discussion starters, look for topics in the news, etc., ask questions
• Seekers – Seek out and share community announcements, links to government agendas, documents, etc.
• Goal – A mix, with 15-20% posting participation rate of registered users each month
e-democracy.org
Open the Forum
• Introductions – Humanize forum with round of introductions
• Seed Discussion Topics – If/as needed• Special Events in Forum – Guest speakers
(Canterbury), State of the City Text/Video (St. Paul)
• Build “e-citizen” skills of community overtime
• Think long term, encourage sense of community ownership, value based on what people contribute not how they are served
e-democracy.org
Conclusion
e-democracy.org
What Makes Us Different• Many to many with real names and civility
• Strength in people-based model and processes that allow us to adapt technologically
• Agenda-setting – Real world pragmatic approach versus empowering citizens isolated from influence
• Recruitment process leads to far deeper geographic participation that pure blogs or social networks
• Technology choice – e-mail, web, blog feeds, future social network application
e-democracy.org
One final story …
e-democracy.org
Steven Clift posted humorously about the “public health risks of a large squirrel population” in the Minneapolis forum’s early days.
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
e-democracy.org
Conclusion
• If this inspires you …– Let’s form a steering committee– Find a local forum manager– Draft a charter– Recruit 100 people– Open to dynamic and useful local public
issue discussions online – any where, anytime participation
– Change local democracy forever
e-democracy.org
Extra Slides
e-democracy.org
What Makes Us Different• Some comparisons
– Blogs – Hyper-individualistic and more male, democratize national punditry more than empower locally – Our model equitable two-way conversation with greater female participation
– Citizen media/online news – Vastly more expensive starting point per community – Our model create demand for better local news, brings stories to the surface
– Social networks – Publicize private life – Our model make real geographic public life accessible anywhere, any time
– Independent efforts – Often fail due to lack of knowledge or use of inappropriate technology – Our model is tried and tested over a decade with a shared network for support and proven technology that reduces volunteer burn-out and help local democracy online efforts launch successfully – That said we hope that for every community that joins our network, 10 other projects will learn from or be inspired by us including citizen media projects
e-democracy.org
Small Groups• Come up with a rule and a technology feature
that would:– 1. Increase the diversity of opinions– 2. Increase participation by women/youth/older
citizens – diversity of participants– 3. Make posting by elected officials more likely– 4. Increase respect for those with differing opinions,
increase trust or civility among members– 5. Help readers/posters find value more quickly– 6. Move participants toward consensus or allow
group to agree on what they disagree about– 7. Avoid alienating political minorities while allowing
majority positions to become known– 8. Hold forum managers/hosts more accountable to
their responsibilities– 9. Troll group – List strategies for destroying an
online community, technologies you prefer
e-democracy.org
Your Questions/Challenges
• What do you need to know?
• What are you concerned about?
• Have you had a different experience you’d like to share?
• There are 5 right ways and 95 wrong paths. How do you choose which is better?
e-democracy.org
Report Back
• Small groups – Write down:– One rule– Best tech idea
• Questions:– Top question– Best advice/example
e-democracy.org
Who makes a good Forum Manager?
• Sincere belief in value of dialogue• Respect for diverse ideologies• Patience• Thick skin, can handle public criticism• People skills – easier to teach tech skills• Not intimidated by technology• Common sense approach to facilitation,
ability to ask questions, guide diplomatically, act quickly when required
• Time available, committed
e-democracy.org
Forum Management Tasks - 1
• Keeping the space “safe” or civil for all participants
• Encouraging/enforcing compliance with forum rules
• Keeping discussions on topic (within scope or purpose of forum)
e-democracy.org
Rules• Rules summary - http://e-democracy.org/rules
– 1. Sign Posts - Use your real name.– 2. Limits on Posting - Two per member per day in most forum charters.– 3. Keep Topics within Forum Purpose - Local issues on a local forum, for example.– 4. Be Civil - This is a public forum with real people. Respect among citizens
with differing views is our cornerstone.– 5. No Attacks or Threats - This keeps the forums safe. If content is illegal it will
be forwarded to the proper legal authorities.– 6. Private Stays Private - Don't forward private replies without permission.– 7. Avoid False Rumors - Asking for clarification of what you've heard in the
community can be appropriate if issues-based. You alone are responsible for what you post.
– 8. Right to Post and Reply - Sharing your knowledge and opinions with your fellow citizens is a democratic right.
– 9. Items Not Allowed in Forums - No attachments, etc.– 10. Public Content and Use - You are sharing your content, but you retain your
copyright.– 11. Warnings - You may receive informal or official warnings from the Forum
Manager.– 12. Suspension - With your second official warning in one year, you are
suspended for two weeks. It goes up from there.– 13. Appeals Process - You can appeal a warning(s) once you receive a third
warning and six-month removal. About one in 1,500 forum members each year have appealed a six-month removal in past years.
e-democracy.org
Forum Management Tasks - 2
• Welcoming new members
• Managing message volume – in both unmoderated and moderated forums
• Introducing new topics– Sharing media/website links– Asking a question
• Encouraging alternative viewpoints– Moving discussion along
e-democracy.org
Forum Management Tasks - 3
• Supporting and encouraging good behavior
• Responding to participant questions or complaints– Waiting for complaints versus
public/private action
• Ongoing recruitment
• Tasks can be distributed/shared
e-democracy.org
Additional Models• E-Debates –
Candidates (parties) on the virtual stage for two weeks– Four major
themes debated, rebuttals required
– Ten short answer questions
– http://e-democracy.org/e-debates
e-democracy.org
Additional Models• Voter Voices response
to e-debate and more - Video, pictures, blog posts tagged “mnpolitics” – http://e-democracy.org/v
oices
• E-Democracy.Org’s Wiki– Election links directory– Community links– Citizens Guide to St. Paul