Wikimania 2009
From Metagovernment - Government of, by, and for all the people
The next Wikimania will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Matías lives there and he will be able to speak at the conference. Please read the Call for Participation for further details.
- Track: casual.
- Theme: wikimedia communities.
- Type: presentation.
In Presentation and Presentation/2008-10-18 you can find a source of inspiration to propose the content of this presentation, that should be wikimedia-oriented and no longer than 30 minutes.
Contents |
Title: Open source governance
Abstract (no longer than 100 words)
Open source governance —a developing manner of governing— has its origins in the possibilities of web 2.0, because it is of a collaborative nature. Undoubtedly, the Wikipedia experience has brought confidence to this type of ideas: mass collaboration can indeed produce quality services and products.
In this presentation we shall briefly analyze the characteristics of a practical direct democracy, pointing out the relation between communication technology and political ideas, and the Metagovernment Project, which is inspired by wikis.
Long description of the submission (no longer than 1000 words)
A new political paradigm
The success and quality of Wikipedia have naturally led some people —that are unhappy with the grade of influence of a common citizen in its government— to conceive participation through web 2.0 technologies in the political scene. Communication technology has always been an important factor in structuring the way decision making is executed in a community: some historical examples will be provided during the talk.
Open source governance is a political philosophy which advocates the application of the philosophies of the open source and open content movements to democratic principles in order to enable any interested person to add to the creation/modification/deletion of policy, as with a wiki document.
Legislation is democratically opened to the general citizenry in this way, allowing policy development to benefit from the collected wisdom of the people as a whole. By definition, open source governance is different from traditional e-democracy, which only stands for the mere existence of actual pseudo-representative governments in the Internet.
The Metagovernment project
The mission of the Metagovernment project is to support the development of Internet tools which enable the members of any community to fully participate in the governance of that community. No one is required to participate, but everyone is allowed to participate, just as software developers can contribute to open source projects and editors can contribute to Wikipedia.
This project upholds basic principles consistent with those developed in the free and open source software and direct democracy movements.
From Wikimania 2009 Program Committee
Reviewer A: The underlying ideas are quite interesting. ¿Is indeed WP a large-scale evidence of new forms of governance/self-rule for communities? Even if I fully disagree with the author's assumptions and viewpoints, I will wholeheartedly support the the principle of "Let a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend".
I would however suggest the author to change the title, or add a more descriptive subtitle, to reflect the true nature of the talk.
- The Next Generation of Governance: Practical Direct Democracy through Web 2.0 Technologies. Suggested by Ed. --Matías Battocchia 14:56, 11 June 2009 (UTC)
Reviewer C: How can "open source governance" have originated in web 2.0, as the free software/open source movement predates it by 20-odd years? Many Wikimedia attendees will be familiar with the history of open source so I would take care with your terms.
- Free/Open source software programmers had an "open" way of managing its projects since the beginnings of those movements. That way is not suitable for every personality nor crowds. Web 2.0 provides a solid platform for the input and analysis of information by a huge quantity of people, so I think this communication technology initiates the open source governance at big scale. --Matías Battocchia 14:56, 11 June 2009 (UTC)
New version:
Title: Practical Direct Democracy through Web 2.0 Technologies
Abstract (no longer than 100 words)
Open Source Governance —a developing manner of governing— has its origins in the possibilities of Web 2.0, because it is of a collaborative nature. Undoubtedly, the Wikipedia experience has brought confidence to this type of ideas: mass collaboration can indeed produce quality services and products.
In this presentation we shall briefly analyze the characteristics of a Practical Direct Democracy, pointing out the relation between communication technology and political ideas; and the Metagovernment project, which is inspired by wikis.
Long description of the submission (no longer than 1000 words)
A new political paradigm: Open Source Governance
A bunch of Internet users and people related to informatics —that are unhappy with the grade of influence of a common citizen in its government— has been naturally led to conceive participation through Web 2.0 technologies in the political scene. Communication technology has always been an important factor in structuring the way decision making is executed in a community: today, direct participation in big communities is possible.
Open Source Governance is a political philosophy which advocates the application of the philosophies of the Open Source and Open Content movements to democratic principles in order to enable any interested person to add to the creation/modification/deletion of policy, as with the documents of a wiki.
Legislation is democratically opened to the general citizenry in this way, allowing policy development to benefit from the collected wisdom of the people as a whole. By definition, Open Source Governance is different from traditional e-Democracy, which only stands for the mere existence of actual representative governments in the Internet.
The Metagovernment project
The mission of the Metagovernment project is to support the development of Internet tools which enable the members of any community to fully participate in the governance of that community. No one is required to participate, but everyone is allowed to participate, just as software developers can contribute to open source projects and editors can contribute to Wikipedia.
This project upholds basic principles consistent with those developed in the Free and Open Source Software movements and Direct Democracy.
