What's missing for a mature What's missing for a mature civic e-democracy?civic e-democracy?
Giuseppe ParuoloGiuseppe Paruolo
Deputy Mayor for Health and Communication - City of Bologna
Chair of EUROCITIES Knowledge Society Forum – Telecities
Strasbourg, April 23th, 2007
E-democracy is an extraordinary opportunity to boost the level of participation of the citizens.
The City of Bologna commitment is proved by years of experiments and best practices. And we are ready to move forward with new projects.
EUROCITIES Knowledge Society Forum – TeleCities has it as one of the key issues. The Charter of eRights represents a common goal. And we are looking to joint actions to implement it.
Still, something is missing…
Summary / 1
What is missing?
In terms of:
1. Inclusion
2. Information
3. Participation
4. Politics
Technology can help, but not solve.
Summary / 2
Bologna “DIGITAL CITY”
Reengineering back office actions
Relations with Citizens (eParticipation)
IPERBOLEinformation
Interactive trials
eServices
exchanges among users
City of Bologna holistic web platform
created in 1995transparency
communication
Create the electronic Citizenship space for allMaking Citizens“NETIZENS”
Bologna
• Citizens consultation on the Mandate Programme 2004-2009
• Other consultations:- mobile and wireless aerials’ stations location plan- pre-school rules - immigration policies- Municipal plan for energy
• Public forum to redesign the City Masterplan (April 2005) Bologna, a City that changes - the participative urban planning to choose the future” • on-line studies
• questionnaires• projects• maps• videos• on-line forum moderated
by experts and politicians
Classical and multichannel participation:150 citizens 260 associations40 meetings230 subscribers
Bologna
• Partecipa.net
Emilia Romagna Region project
www.partecipa.net
Mutual learning and sharing of competencies, skill and experiences concerning both traditional and electronic decision making processes
eDemocracy kit
• open source forum application based on Delphi method;
• integrated system of CRM in order to deal with bi-directional communicative flows;
• mediation/moderation handbook;• technical and managerial guidelines on
eParticipation processes for PBs;• collaborative platform to share
problems, solutions Q/As... • At present: public consultation about the future
implementation of the public library “Your ideas for Sala Borsa”
Bologna
• enhance participation and cooperation between Citizens and PBs• develop a virtual plaza, in which everybody can discuss relevant
issues• make easier the customisation of services• exploit the joint intelligence (Wiki)• obtain feedback and content approval system to enhance user
reliability
Web 2.0
Blogs
RSS Feeds
Forums
Wikis
Socialmapping
Folksonomy
The future city portal
The future city portal
Opportunity - Leverage the incredible potential of the social networking on the Internet to increase the capabilities of the City Portal
Risk - Uncertain origin and compromised reliability of the information provided
Solution - Publishing procedures and clear indicators on origin and reliability to avoid confusionpage structure identifying user pages from official pages | system for content approval | user feedback | only administrators or users with non-negative feedbacks can approve content | value of reliability | international co-operation | credits architecture
Example: additional languages
EUROCITIES is the network of major European cities,bringing together the local governments of morethan 130 large cities in over 30 European countries.
EUROCITIES Knowledge Society Forum - TeleCities iscurrently focusing on ensuring the development of an inclusive Knowledge Society by making ICTs and online services accessible to all citizens, promotingthe modernisation of local public administrations through the use of ICT solutions, enhancing the rolecities play in the development of the Knowledge Society by promoting the uptake of ICT solutions and stimulating innovation, fostering the knowledge-based economy.
EUROCITIES KSF-TeleCities
KSF-T has officially presented in July 2005 the
EUROPEAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS OF CITIZENS EUROPEAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS OF CITIZENS IN THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETYIN THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY
aims to be the European model from which local elected governments can draw up their own municipal Charter and determine their own ways of reaching a sustainable Knowledge Society in their local area.
eRights Charter
recognises the Rights to Access, to Education and Training to Online Information and Participation
more than 30 Cities have already signed the Charter; 18 Cities have expressed their interest in signing up
EUROCITIES KSF-TeleCities
KSF-T has set up a Work Group on eRights to: • promote the European Charter of Rights of
citizens in the Knowledge society• help Cities in implementing the Charter• offer the signatory Cities a platform to exchange
good practices• develop instruments to monitor the progresses• keep the eRights Charter up to date• liaise with partners that are active in preventing
the digital divide• organise Eurocities Digital Award based on
eRights
EUROCITIES KSF-TeleCities
During the next Summer Event (Bologna, 28-30 June 2007):
Safe Technologies in Safe CitiesWireless Networks
Advanced VideosurveillanceElectromagnetic Pollution
Natural Language Based Inclusion
EUROCITIES KSF-TeleCities
Digital divide is a recognised issue:
In terms of access (broadband and beyond)
In terms of learning/training
Internet not as the only mean
Was: traditional + Internet
Now: full range of possibilities
Technology may be of great help
Example: communicate with the elderly (Oldes)
Inclusion
No real participation without proper information
Media bound to exploit their own market, useful but not committed to empower the citizen
Direct channels to communicate with the citizens Possible (thanks to technology) Recommended (possibly with a common
vision) Not enough (overload is always a risk)
Technology may help, but not too much: information is crucial for (e-)democracy, rules and effort needed.
Example: Iperbole 2.0 project (+ common efforts)
Information
Different possible levels of participation
1. Feedback / suggestions on issues under discussion
2. Contribution to proposals under construction
3. Expression of consensus on proposals
4. Choice among different alternatives proposed
5. Possibility to submit and decide on proposals coming from the citizens
6. Participate not only in the decision making process but also in the realisation of decisions taken
Risk of underestimation of the real numbers to deal with
BUT MOSTLY: it’s a political issue
Participation
1. Caveat: technology is a tool, so a possible enabler of:
e-dictature
e-populism
e-wasteoftime
e-joke
…
e-democracy
Politics
2. Today (the risk is that it) is perceived as a political niche, a nice way to please citizens|netizens, with a bright future but today not really “dangerous”
Electoral web sites vs PB administrative sites
Similar in importance to the Youth Parliament or the Council of the Elders
Discussed mostly in technological conferences and meetings
Politics
3. If it were a “real” political issue…
We would be discussing about limitations of the use and rules to ensure a correct approach to e-democracy
Similarity with referendum (in Italian Constitution, in the City Regulations…)
Discussion in the main political arena and not only during technology conferences and among ICT experts
On the long run, e-democracy must lose the “e-”!
Politics
Contacts
Contacts:
GIUSEPPE PARUOLODeputy Mayor for Health and Communication, City of Bologna+39 051 219 [email protected]
www.comune.bologna.it
www.eurocities.eu
Thank you for your attention!
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