Online Consultation: Governments Engaging Citizens Seminar - From the Archives

Online Consultation:
Governments Engaging
Citizens
Seminar
By Steven Clift, Publicus.Net

Online Consultation
Seminar Outline
• Introduction
• Online Consultation
• Conclusion
Online Consultation Seminar
Copyright 2003, Steven Clift,

Introduction
• Moving from one-way old media to two-way
communication
• Many-to-many communication is the focus of
this seminar
• “The most democratizing aspect of the
Internet is the ability for people to organize
and communicate in groups.”
- Steven Clift from Democracy is Online article in,
OnTheInternet, April 1998

Introduction
• Taking the E-citizen perspective
– What do people actually do online?
– How can that knowledge be used to design
interactive opportunities?
• Time online. People spend more time in their
e-mail box than surfing on the web.
• E-mail is where the e-citizens roam. The web
is a tremendous and valuable complement.

Introduction
• Daily Internet Activities –
PewInternet.Org
On a typical day, Americans with net
access:
– Go online - 53%
– Send email - 46
– Use an online search engine
to find information - 29
– Get news - 22
– Surf the Web for fun - 22
– Look for info on a hobby - 19
– Check the weather - 17
– Do any type of research for
their job - 16
– Do an Internet search to answer
a specific question - 14
– Research a product or service
before buying it - 14
– Get financial information - 13
– Look for info about movies,
books, or other leisure activities
- 13
– Send an instant message - 11
– Check sports scores - 10
– Look for political
news/information - 9
– Research for school or training -
9
– Visit a government Web site - 8

Introduction
• Local online groups, where might e-citizen
already “be”?
– Club EGroups
– Religious Institutions E-News lists
– Local Business and Trade Groups E-Lists
– Sports Group E-Lists
– Media Hosted Web Forums
– Social Chat Forums (Younger net users)
– Civic/NGO E-Lists
– Neighbors, Apartment Complexes
– EGroups with Personal Friends
Adapted from PewInternet.Org report on Online Communities

Introduction
• Do most people view the Internet as a way to get
involved locally? Not yet. We must change that.
– 67% of American Internet users say the Net helps
them get involved in things outside their
community
– 9% say it helps them get involved in things close
to home.
– However, 26% of American Internet users (or 28
million people) have employed the Internet to
contact or get information about local groups.
• From PewInternet.Org’s, Online Communities survey,
continued …

Introduction
• Of American Internet users, they go online “often” or
“sometimes”:
– 41% for information about local stores or merchants.
– 35% for news about their local community or community events.
– 30% for information about local government.
– 24% for information about local schools.
– 13% to email public officials. (Only half of all net users say their
town has a Web site, and few net users find it very useful.)
– 11% of Internet users say they are aware of at least one local
issue where the net played a role in organizing citizens to
communicate with public officials.
– Percentage doubles to 22% for Internet users who are active
members of online communities.
– Source: PewInternet.Org Online Communities survey

Introduction
• If “barriers to entry” to publishing information
or hosting discussions online are low, what
scarcities remain?
– User Time
– User Attention
– Resources available to produce quality content,
host consultations and discussions
• Increasing expectations of users important
• These factors must always be taken into
consideration.

Introduction
• Value of online community and consultations
include:
– Anywhere
– Anytime – On your own time
– Diverse voices
– Complement not replace existing participation
• Can overcome the “democratic divide”
despite digital divide
• Most current decision-making processes
have specific place and time restrictions.

Online Consultation
• Online consultations are (normally) time-limited
events designed to inform the
public policy process and inform
interested citizens and experts
• Often sponsored by government and
NGOs, sometimes media – this
presentation has a government focus
• Related terms – online events, online
hearings, e-rulemaking

Online Consultation
• Why do them?
– Increase the quality, quantity, and diversity of
information and opinion available to decision-makers
– Educate citizens on the policy options and complex
choices
– Build public and media awareness on priority issues
– Float ideas and proposals to determine interest, build
support, lessen opposition
• Don’t expect them to be easy or less work than
in-person consultations or public hearings

Online Consultation
Online Consultation Top Ten Tips
1. Political Support Required.
2. State Purpose, Share Context.
3. Build an Audience.

Online Consultation
• 4. Choose Your Model and Elements Carefully.
Examples
– Questions and Answers
– Document/Policy Comments
– Online Expert Panel
– Online Conference
– E-Rulemaking Comments
– Policy Implementation Information Exchange
– Live Chat/Interview Events
– Live Multimedia Events
– Consultation Index (Traditional Participation)
– Other Online Elements: Surveys and Polls, Comment
Forms, Petitions, Testimony, Focus Groups, Web
Forums and E-mail Lists
• Here are select examples …

Online Consultation
• Consultation Calendar (Traditional +)

Online Consultation
• Questions and Answers

Online Consultation
• Policy/Document comments sought

Online Consultation
• Online Expert/Guest Panel

Online Consultation
• Online Conferences

Online Consultation
• E-Rulemaking Comments

Online Consultation
• Policy Implementation and Info Exchange

Online Consultation
• Live Chats, Live Multimedia Events

Online Consultation
• Online Polls and Surveys

Online Consultation
• Online Polls and Surveys 2

Online Consultation
• Web Forums
Fujisawa City, Japan has
Government introduced
topics and citizen
created topic in two
columns – a key
innovation.
Approximately 600 of
3000 local governments
in Japan have web
forums, most are not
active. Fujisawa is
successful exception
with staff time dedicated
to facilitating the forum.

Online Consultation
• E-mail lists – are more implementation oriented

Online Consultation
Back to the final 5 of 10 top tips …
5. Create Structure.
6. Provide Facilitation and Guidelines.
7. Disseminate Content and Results.

Online Consultation
8. Access to Decision-Makers and Staff
Required.
9. Promote Civic Education.
10. Not About Technology.
Full article online at:
http://www.publicus.net/articles/consult.html

Online Consultation
Addition resources online at bottom of:
http://www.publicus.net/articles/consult.html
• Bowling Together: Online Public Engagement in Policy Deliberation
• OECD Citizens as Partners Guide: Information, Consultation and Public
Participation in Policy-Making (268 pages)
• Engaging Citizens in Policy-making: Information, Consultation and Public
Participation. OECD Public Management Policy Brief No. 10
• Building Digital Bridges - Creating Inclusive Online Parliamentary
Consultations
• Electronic Democracy and Educating Young People
• New Media and Social Exclusion (report excerpt from Hansard Society)
• On-line Engagement – New Models and Implications for Government
Departments and Officials
• Lessons from the Network Model for Online Engagement of Citizens
• Electronic Civic Consultation: A guide to the use of the Internet in
interactive policy making (Key Dutch report from 1997)

Conclusion
• We have a choice – use information and
communications technologies to improve the
connection between citizens and their
governments or not.
• We have a choice – build online efforts
among and for citizens that connect them
with each other in order to raise their voices
in our communities or not.

Conclusion
• This is an evolution that can be shaped on
our terms, our democratic terms.
• Ultimately, our goal is to create systems for
political participation that fully accommodate
the will of the people so we can improve the
outcomes of our public work and society as a
whole.

Further Information
• Democracies Online Newswire
http://www.e-democracy.org/do
Over 2500 people around the world exchanging
announcements, news, and articles related to e-democracy,
e-government, and e-politics.
• E-Democracy Resources Flyer
http://publicus.net/articles/edemresources.html
Links to the top e-democracy starting points on a two page
flyer available in HTML, Word, and PDF.
• Publicus.Net
http://www.publicus.net
More articles and presentations by Steven Clift

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