Presentation/gov20expo
From Metagovernment - Government of, by, and for all the people
Following is a draft proposal for a panel presentation at the Gov 2.0 Expo to be held May 25-27, 2010. Click here for the Call for Presentations.
Contents |
Proposal Title
Opening Governance to Everyone: Platforms for collaborative governance
Description
(brief overview for marketing purposes, max. length 400 characters—about 65 words)
Government 2.0 initiatives often focus on increasing communication between citizens and government officials. This presentation explores emerging applications which are greatly expanding the ability of citizens to be directly involved in decision-making. Collaboration technologies have proven themselves in other realms, and now they are being brought to human social governance.
Topics
- Policy
- √ Technology
- Challenges
- People
Session type
- √ 50-minute presentation
- 50-minute panel discussion
- 90-minute workshop
- 5-minute rapid-fire presentation
- other
Abstract
When we think of direct citizen involvement in decision-making, our minds tend to drift toward traditional models of direct democracy. These have proven time and again to be inadequate or detrimental. Apart from the sheer logistical issues with direct democracy, there are the very real threats of mob rule and demagoguery.
But the advent of Web 2.0 technologies has opened new models of mass collaboration that not only break the old logistical barriers but also show the way to new kinds of governance based on collaboration and consensus-building. The past few years have seen an explosion in creativity in this new realm, and this presentation showcases several of the projects breaking new ground.
Some of the projects that will be highlighted include:
- Candiwi, a wiki-style collaboration tool which integrates voting into the change process, and which distributes control to the entire community.
- DemocracyLab, which applies a "Values-Focused Thinking" cognitive model, breaking issues down into statements of values, objectives, and policies. User participation creates a dynamic map of political thought designed to help identify points of consensus and to facilitate collaborative problem-solving.
- NationBuilder, the engine of WhiteHouse2.org, which has brought thousands of Americans together in a social network organized entirely around what they think the White House should be doing.
- Vilfredo, a decision-making engine which creates an entirely new model of voting based on a human genetic algorithm and a Pareto frontier to select the successful proposals from one round to the next.
- Votorola, a primary electoral and rule-making system based on peer-to-peer cascade voting, recombinant drafting and small group dialogue.
Ed's note: The above are poor descriptions which should be modified by others. One's I'm not comfortable even trying to describe yet include: Indaba, OpenPolitics, Telematics
Some common features of all of these systems are that none are bound by simple majority rule or popularity contests, all have mechanisms to promote consensus, all are open source and/or not-for-profit, and all are applicable to many different forms of social governance, not just civil government. Additionally these projects are beginning to explore cross-project compatibilities.
Some of these tools will be immediately useful to attendees wishing to explore new forms of opening governance to citizen input. Attendees will leave the presentation with a new perspective on citizen involvement in governance. Instead of the debacles of the recent town-hall meetings on the health insurance issue or the unfunded mandates resulting from California referenda, attendees will learn of genuinely positive means of greatly enhancing democracy and decision-making.
Speakers
- Ed Pastore, Metagovernment Project
- Dr. Pietro Speroni di Fenizio, University of Coimbra
