The consultation strategy led to the development of Consultation Finder and from there is seemed sensible to try other approaches such as online surveys and quick polls. E-petitions were introduced in 2004, closely followed by our original e-panel, Ask Bristol Over the last few years this has evolved with more bottom-up engagement through neighbourhood forums plus through improved use of multimedia Bristol was also the first place in the country to introduce free IT in libraries through the People’s network
Final thoughts are that e-democracy is not about making a transaction Spending money on buying tools help but it’s more about people Works best if can invest time and effort to build an ongoing relationship Making sure that feedback and responses are given