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There are 15 posts — by 8 authors — in this topic.
Latest post made by Jill Sanders at 2007 Jun 16 07:06 UTC

From: Ella Taylor-Smith Date: 2007 Jun 13 10:45 UTC Short link

Hi,

By governance statements I mean things like "Conditions of Use" and
"Privacy Policy" - guidelines to encourage good manners in the forum (or
whatever), as well as rules to support moderation. Hmm I should add
legal disclaimers as well.

I'm making a kind of list of these kind of statements and would be glad
if you could help me - by sending examples or URLs.

I'm especially interested in how these came about. Who was involved in
writing them? Do they change/grow over time? Has anyone managed to
shrink them?

(Ross Ferguson's comments about making it clear who moderated the
Westminster Parliament's Forums are interesting here too. Was that on
another list Ross?)

ITC have always favoured short sweet here. E.g. from the Highland Youth
Voice website:
Conditions of Use
Please take care of yourself by not putting any contact information in
your comment - don't give anyone's email address, home address or phone
number. Please take care of your readers by writing with respect and
trying to make your point clearly and briefly. Comments should be less
than 150 words. We will remove comments if we think they contain
offensive or abusive language or if they could be libellous. If you want
to say something but you have a good reason to be afraid to put your
name by your comment, you can fill in a special form, which will stop
your name being attached to the comment. This will be checked by someone
before it goes on to the site.
Inclusion of any statement or comment in this site does not indicate
that the Highland Wellbeing Alliance or the ITC endorse it or take any
responsibility for it.
http://www.highlandyouthvoice.org/YourVoice/conditions.asp

(ok I am asking you to do my work, but I'm hoping we'll also build a
useful resource this way too)

Ella Smith

International Teledemocracy Centre
Napier University
10 Colinton Road
Edinburgh, EH10 5DT

Telephone: +44 (0) 131 455 2392  Fax:  +44 (0) 131 455 2282
Email: <email obscured>

http://itc.napier.ac.uk



This message is intended for the addressee(s) only and should not be read,
copied or disclosed to anyone else outwith the University without the
permission of the sender.
It is your responsibility to ensure that this message and any attachments are
scanned for viruses or other defects. Napier University does not accept
liability for any loss
or damage which may result from this email or any attachment, or for errors or
omissions arising after it was sent. Email is not a secure medium. Email
entering the
University's system is subject to routine monitoring and filtering by the
University.

From: Geoff Reid Date: 2007 Jun 13 21:30 UTC Short link

Hi Ella.

Talkswindon deliberately ignored the c.y.a approach and adopted a 'less is
more' stance.

http://www.talkswindon.org/index.php?action=register

Quote:

We have deliberately not issued a list of proscribed activities on the
membership signup agreement, preferring to instill an expectation of common
sense and decent behaviour from new members.

Most new members will have viewed the forum as a guest, so have a reasonable
idea of acceptable posting styles and 'persona' attributes.

The forum is largely self-moderating with a fairly wide latitude allowed for
different views to be expressed.

The forum members usually prefer to debate an opinion which might be initially
seen as 'objectionable', instead of expecting its immediate removal. At the end
of each such debate there is almost always a better understanding of opposing
opinion.

To date only 1 post, (message), has been deleted from the forum, and this was
at the mutual request of both members concerned.

The lack of detailed legal warnings should not be taken as permission to run
riot. A good general guideline would be: Treat others as you would like them to
treat you.

Please note that with each post, your IP address is recorded, in the event that
you need to be banned from this forum or your ISP contacted. This will only
happen in the event of a major violation of this agreement.

Also note that the software places a cookie, a text file containing bits of
information (such as your username and password), in your browser's cache. This
is ONLY used to keep you logged in/out. The software does not collect or send
any other form of information to your computer.

end quote.


You'll notice that Talkswindon neither encourages or discourages
nicknames/pseudonyms being used and does not limit how frequently members post.

At 'TS' we're a bit bemused by sites that deliberately limit input to
discussion and seeks, or hints that they might 'validate' identity. We can't
see the point. A valid point is a valid point regardless of whether it's made
by Geoff Reid or Jumping Jack Flash.

From: Jill Sanders Date: 2007 Jun 13 21:54 UTC Short link

As you know, Ella, we have a code of conduct at www.oncom.org.uk .  I am of
the conviction that people will only behave if accountable and those on our
Voxpop write under their own names.  They are verified on registration so
people are who they say.  You can see our code of conduct all over the
voxpop and people sign up to it on registration.  We have had to wield the
stick, but rarely.  Also starting with Dear Sir helps hugely, it gives the
forum a chair in the time-honoured letters to the editor kind of tradition.
But you have to monitor carefully, even so, if you want intelligent,
coherent, courteous debate - and that is the only kind of debate that will
have any influence.  Best wishes, Jill

----- Original Message -----
From: "Smith, Ella" <E.Smith@napier.ac.uk>
To: <ukie@groups.dowire.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 11:45 AM
Subject: [UKIE-EDem] Writing governance statements for e-participation
projects

Hi,

By governance statements I mean things like "Conditions of Use" and
"Privacy Policy" - guidelines to encourage good manners in the forum (or
whatever), as well as rules to support moderation. Hmm I should add
legal disclaimers as well.

I'm making a kind of list of these kind of statements and would be glad
if you could help me - by sending examples or URLs.

I'm especially interested in how these came about. Who was involved in
writing them? Do they change/grow over time? Has anyone managed to
shrink them?

(Ross Ferguson's comments about making it clear who moderated the
Westminster Parliament's Forums are interesting here too. Was that on
another list Ross?)

ITC have always favoured short sweet here. E.g. from the Highland Youth
Voice website:
Conditions of Use
Please take care of yourself by not putting any contact information in
your comment - don't give anyone's email address, home address or phone
number. Please take care of your readers by writing with respect and
trying to make your point clearly and briefly. Comments should be less
than 150 words. We will remove comments if we think they contain
offensive or abusive language or if they could be libellous. If you want
to say something but you have a good reason to be afraid to put your
name by your comment, you can fill in a special form, which will stop
your name being attached to the comment. This will be checked by someone
before it goes on to the site.
Inclusion of any statement or comment in this site does not indicate
that the Highland Wellbeing Alliance or the ITC endorse it or take any
responsibility for it.
http://www.highlandyouthvoice.org/YourVoice/conditions.asp

(ok I am asking you to do my work, but I'm hoping we'll also build a
useful resource this way too)

Ella Smith

International Teledemocracy Centre
Napier University
10 Colinton Road
Edinburgh, EH10 5DT

Telephone: +44 (0) 131 455 2392  Fax:  +44 (0) 131 455 2282
Email: <email obscured>

http://itc.napier.ac.uk

This message is intended for the addressee(s) only and should not be read,
copied or disclosed to anyone else outwith the University without the
permission of the sender.
It is your responsibility to ensure that this message and any attachments
are scanned for viruses or other defects. Napier University does not accept
liability for any loss
or damage which may result from this email or any attachment, or for errors
or omissions arising after it was sent. Email is not a secure medium. Email
entering the
University's system is subject to routine monitoring and filtering by the
University.

Member profile for Ella:
http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/smithella

-----------------------------------------

Group home for UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange:
http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/ukie

Replies go to members of UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange with all posts
on this topic here:
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For digest version or to leave UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange,
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UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange is hosted by Democracies Online -
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From: Pete Thomson Date: 2007 Jun 14 08:59 UTC Short link

Geoff Reid wrote:

> At 'TS' we're a bit bemused by sites that deliberately limit
> input to discussion and seeks, or hints that they might
> 'validate' identity. We can't see the point. A valid point is
> a valid point regardless of whether it's made by Geoff Reid
> or Jumping Jack Flash.

For private individuals, I agree. But there is some point in validating
the identity of someone who claims to hold a significant position -
local councillor or senior police officer, for instance. The
expectations of them in the forum would be partly about the office they
hold, not them as individuals - and it would be unfair if bad online
behaviour by someone pretending to be them was held against the real
person.

Although maybe that last thought is shading towards the more paranoid
argument for validating everyone's identity, which is that the ultimate
sanction for bad online behaviour is to ban them from participating, and
that's meaningless if they can immediately resubscribe with a different
identity. I don't know of any instance where this has been demonstrated
in practice.

Regards, Peter.

From: Pete Thomson Date: 2007 Jun 14 09:06 UTC Short link

The governance statements for our site are:

Terms and conditions
http://www.wton-partnership.org.uk/inovem/inovem.ti/system/text?page=ter
ms

Privacy policy
http://www.wton-partnership.org.uk/inovem/inovem.ti/system/text?page=pri
vacy

Moderation policy
http://www.wton-partnership.org.uk/inovem/inovem.ti/system/text?page=mod
eration

I don't claim that these are examples of particularly good practice,
they're the usual rather lengthy attempts to cover every possibility.

Regards, Peter.

--
Peter Thomson
Policy Officer (e-government), Office of the Chief Executive,
Wolverhampton City Council, Civic Centre, Wolverhampton WV1 1SH, UK
Tel: (+44) 1902 554048   Fax: (+44) 1902 554030   Web:
http://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Smith, Ella [mailto:E.Smith@napier.ac.uk]
> Sent: 13 June 2007 11:45
> To: <email obscured>
> Subject: [UKIE-EDem] Writing governance statements for
> e-participation projects
>
> Hi,
>
> By governance statements I mean things like "Conditions of
> Use" and "Privacy Policy" - guidelines to encourage good
> manners in the forum (or whatever), as well as rules to
> support moderation. Hmm I should add legal disclaimers as well.
>
> I'm making a kind of list of these kind of statements and
> would be glad if you could help me - by sending examples or URLs.
>
> I'm especially interested in how these came about. Who was
> involved in writing them? Do they change/grow over time? Has
> anyone managed to shrink them?
>
> (Ross Ferguson's comments about making it clear who moderated
> the Westminster Parliament's Forums are interesting here too.
> Was that on another list Ross?)
>
> ITC have always favoured short sweet here. E.g. from the
> Highland Youth Voice website:
> Conditions of Use
> Please take care of yourself by not putting any contact
> information in your comment - don't give anyone's email
> address, home address or phone number. Please take care of
> your readers by writing with respect and trying to make your
> point clearly and briefly. Comments should be less than 150
> words. We will remove comments if we think they contain
> offensive or abusive language or if they could be libellous.
> If you want to say something but you have a good reason to be
> afraid to put your name by your comment, you can fill in a
> special form, which will stop your name being attached to the
> comment. This will be checked by someone before it goes on to
> the site.
> Inclusion of any statement or comment in this site does not
> indicate that the Highland Wellbeing Alliance or the ITC
> endorse it or take any responsibility for it.
> http://www.highlandyouthvoice.org/YourVoice/conditions.asp
>
> (ok I am asking you to do my work, but I'm hoping we'll also
> build a useful resource this way too)
>
> Ella Smith
>
> International Teledemocracy Centre
> Napier University
> 10 Colinton Road
> Edinburgh, EH10 5DT
>
> Telephone: +44 (0) 131 455 2392  Fax:  +44 (0) 131 455 2282
> Email: <email obscured>
>
> http://itc.napier.ac.uk
>
>
>
> This message is intended for the addressee(s) only and should
> not be read, copied or disclosed to anyone else outwith the
> University without the permission of the sender.
> It is your responsibility to ensure that this message and any
> attachments are scanned for viruses or other defects. Napier
> University does not accept liability for any loss or damage
> which may result from this email or any attachment, or for
> errors or omissions arising after it was sent. Email is not a
> secure medium. Email entering the University's system is
> subject to routine monitoring and filtering by the University.
>
> Member profile for Ella:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/smithella
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
> Group home for UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/ukie
>
> Replies go to members of UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange
> with all posts on this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/
>
> For digest version or to leave UK and Ireland E-Democracy
> Exchange, email <email obscured> with "digest on" or
> "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange is hosted by Democracies
> Online - http://dowire.org.
>
>

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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From: Jill Sanders Date: 2007 Jun 15 06:25 UTC Short link

Everyone who contributes on our site, whether citizen journalist,
councillor, individual, police officer, camfpaigner, does so in their own
name and everyone knows who that is.  I think it fair that if accountability
is expected, everyone should be prepared to be accountable for what they put
in the public domain and why.  We find this works very well in every way on
our local community network at www.oncom.org.uk and is the only real
guarantee of achieving credibility, courtesy and effectiveness.  This has
always been our policy.  Those who aren't prepared to stand up and be
counted don't participate, which is their choice.  When people are
publishing direct, they must do it in their own name because it is their
responsibility, not Oncom's.  Oncom provides the platform;  the people
participating write the script.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Pete Thomson" <Pete.Thomson@wolverhampton.gov.uk>
To: <ukie@groups.dowire.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 9:58 AM
Subject: Re: [UKIE-EDem] Writing governance statements for e-participation
projects

Geoff Reid wrote:

> At 'TS' we're a bit bemused by sites that deliberately limit
> input to discussion and seeks, or hints that they might
> 'validate' identity. We can't see the point. A valid point is
> a valid point regardless of whether it's made by Geoff Reid
> or Jumping Jack Flash.

For private individuals, I agree. But there is some point in validating
the identity of someone who claims to hold a significant position -
local councillor or senior police officer, for instance. The
expectations of them in the forum would be partly about the office they
hold, not them as individuals - and it would be unfair if bad online
behaviour by someone pretending to be them was held against the real
person.

Although maybe that last thought is shading towards the more paranoid
argument for validating everyone's identity, which is that the ultimate
sanction for bad online behaviour is to ban them from participating, and
that's meaningless if they can immediately resubscribe with a different
identity. I don't know of any instance where this has been demonstrated
in practice.

Regards, Peter.

--
Peter Thomson
Policy Officer (e-government), Office of the Chief Executive,
Wolverhampton City Council, Civic Centre, Wolverhampton WV1 1SH, UK
Tel: (+44) 1902 554048   Fax: (+44) 1902 554030   Web:
http://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER: This email and files transmitted are
confidential and are intended solely for the use of the
intended recipient.  If you are not the intended
recipient, or the person responsible for delivering it to
the intended recipient, you may not copy, disclose,
distribute or use it in any unauthorised manner.  If you
have received this email in error please notify us by
email to <email obscured> and then delete
it and any attachments accompanying it.  Please note that
Wolverhampton City Council cannot guarantee that this
message or any attachments are virus free or have not been
intercepted and amended.
Any views or opinions expressed within this email are
those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those
of Wolverhampton City Council and no contractual
arrangement is intended to arise from this communication.
==============================================================================

Member profile for Pete Thomson:
http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/petethomson

-----------------------------------------

Group home for UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange:
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Replies go to members of UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange with all posts
on this topic here:
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UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange is hosted by Democracies Online -
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From: Carol Hayward Date: 2007 Jun 15 08:00 UTC Short link

In Bristol we originally took a similar stance to Geoff on our main Ask Bristol
forum and started with very simple and easy conditions of use. We've been going
for 2.5 years now and from memory have only removed 2 comments - one as the f
word was used and the second as it was offensive to another person and I needed
to send an explanatory email to the perpetrator.

When we originally went live, I spent some time researching how other people
did it - drawing reference from the BBC forums and any other forums I came
across. We've recently reviewed them as we're incorporating video (through our
DCA/Ministry of Justice funded e-innovations project Viewfinder) and checked
YouTube's site to see how they did it and so for this site the conditions of
use has grown quite considerably - also partly as we were encouraging younger
people to participate and we thought it would be useful to add some safety
information.

http://www.viewfinder.public-i.tv/tandc.php

For Ask Bristol/Viewfinder we allow self-determined user names as we felt that
would encourage participation and I think that's worked fine.

However, we also have been setting up neighbourhood issues forums and are
generally following e-democracy.org's guidance on encouraging people to use
their real names. I think part of the difference is that we understand there is
a lack of trust between the council and its citizens so people might feel more
comfortable being anonymous. However, for the community-led neighbourhood
forums, a spirit of openness and accountability is being encouraged.

From: Ella Taylor-Smith Date: 2007 Jun 15 08:20 UTC Short link

Hi Geoff,

I notice from the Talk Swindon registration form that there's no
question about location.
Do you know how many of your members are local?

I realise that this is less of an issue than it would be in a forum run
by (or sponsored by) a local authority (or national gov body or
parliament).
Is it an issue for the Talk Swindon group?

-Ella

Ella Smith

International Teledemocracy Centre
Napier University
10 Colinton Road
Edinburgh, EH10 5DT

Telephone: +44 (0) 131 455 2392  Fax:  +44 (0) 131 455 2282
Email: <email obscured>

http://itc.napier.ac.uk



This message is intended for the addressee(s) only and should not be read,
copied or disclosed to anyone else outwith the University without the
permission of the sender.
It is your responsibility to ensure that this message and any attachments are
scanned for viruses or other defects. Napier University does not accept
liability for any loss
or damage which may result from this email or any attachment, or for errors or
omissions arising after it was sent. Email is not a secure medium. Email
entering the
University's system is subject to routine monitoring and filtering by the
University.

From: Pete Thomson Date: 2007 Jun 15 08:45 UTC Short link

Jill, you wrote:

> Everyone who contributes on our site, whether citizen
> journalist, councillor, individual, police officer,
> camfpaigner, does so in their own name and everyone knows who
> that is.

But how does "everyone know who that is"? Do you check that participants
are who they say, do all the participants already know each other
offline, or what?

Regards, Peter.

From: Patricia Donald Date: 2007 Jun 15 09:13 UTC Short link

Hi Ella

We at Advice NI have run 4 public e-consultations in the last 2 years
and haven't gone beyond the Forum rules and policies that come as
standard with the discussion forum package we are using (web wiz
forums).  And now that I've reread it realise that it quotes US law.

http://www.adviceni.net/econsultation/registration_rules.asp?FID=0&SID=8
6a3a84457ae95ccbb53239a286ee34a


We haven't yet had to remove a message or ban a person.  We use the
Welcome message to put up details of who is moderating, why we are
running the e-consultation and what we intend doing with the outcome.

We're hoping to run an e-consultation on the introduction of water
charges to Northern Ireland in the coming months.  This is a highly
controversial issue as it affects everyone here so I'm thinking that
language; views expressed might be stronger...

Regards

Patricia

-----Original Message-----
From: Smith, Ella [mailto:E.Smith@napier.ac.uk]
Sent: 13 June 2007 11:45 am
To: <email obscured>
Subject: [UKIE-EDem] Writing governance statements for e-participation
projects

Hi,

By governance statements I mean things like "Conditions of Use" and
"Privacy Policy" - guidelines to encourage good manners in the forum (or
whatever), as well as rules to support moderation. Hmm I should add
legal disclaimers as well.

I'm making a kind of list of these kind of statements and would be glad
if you could help me - by sending examples or URLs.

I'm especially interested in how these came about. Who was involved in
writing them? Do they change/grow over time? Has anyone managed to
shrink them?

(Ross Ferguson's comments about making it clear who moderated the
Westminster Parliament's Forums are interesting here too. Was that on
another list Ross?)

ITC have always favoured short sweet here. E.g. from the Highland Youth
Voice website:
Conditions of Use
Please take care of yourself by not putting any contact information in
your comment - don't give anyone's email address, home address or phone
number. Please take care of your readers by writing with respect and
trying to make your point clearly and briefly. Comments should be less
than 150 words. We will remove comments if we think they contain
offensive or abusive language or if they could be libellous. If you want
to say something but you have a good reason to be afraid to put your
name by your comment, you can fill in a special form, which will stop
your name being attached to the comment. This will be checked by someone
before it goes on to the site.
Inclusion of any statement or comment in this site does not indicate
that the Highland Wellbeing Alliance or the ITC endorse it or take any
responsibility for it.
http://www.highlandyouthvoice.org/YourVoice/conditions.asp

(ok I am asking you to do my work, but I'm hoping we'll also build a
useful resource this way too)

Ella Smith

International Teledemocracy Centre
Napier University
10 Colinton Road
Edinburgh, EH10 5DT

Telephone: +44 (0) 131 455 2392  Fax:  +44 (0) 131 455 2282
Email: <email obscured>

http://itc.napier.ac.uk

This message is intended for the addressee(s) only and should not be
read, copied or disclosed to anyone else outwith the University without
the permission of the sender.
It is your responsibility to ensure that this message and any
attachments are scanned for viruses or other defects. Napier University
does not accept liability for any loss
or damage which may result from this email or any attachment, or for
errors or omissions arising after it was sent. Email is not a secure
medium. Email entering the
University's system is subject to routine monitoring and filtering by
the University.

Member profile for Ella:
http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/smithella

-----------------------------------------

Group home for UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange:
http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/ukie

Replies go to members of UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange with all
posts on this topic here:
http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/

For digest version or to leave UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange,
email <email obscured>
with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.

UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange is hosted by Democracies Online -
http://dowire.org.

From: Shane McCracken Date: 2007 Jun 15 09:36 UTC Short link

Have we reached ten yet?  Carol's removed two posts, Geoff one, Patricia is
yet to reach those heady heights.  There must be more out there...

I only ask because we did some research for ICELE last year which involved
talking to a few councils about e-democracy and a fairly consistent reaction
to the idea of discussion boards was that a large amount of moderation would
be required and they were worried about "opening the floodgates" and losing
control.

Is it possible that the fears are unfounded? ;-)

Shane

-----Original Message-----
From: Patricia Donald [mailto:Patricia@adviceni.net]
Sent: 15 June 2007 10:12
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [UKIE-EDem] Writing governance statements for e-participation
projects

Hi Ella

We at Advice NI have run 4 public e-consultations in the last 2 years and
haven't gone beyond the Forum rules and policies that come as standard with
the discussion forum package we are using (web wiz forums).  And now that
I've reread it realise that it quotes US law.

http://www.adviceni.net/econsultation/registration_rules.asp?FID=0&SID=8
6a3a84457ae95ccbb53239a286ee34a

We haven't yet had to remove a message or ban a person.  We use the Welcome
message to put up details of who is moderating, why we are running the
e-consultation and what we intend doing with the outcome.

We're hoping to run an e-consultation on the introduction of water charges
to Northern Ireland in the coming months.  This is a highly controversial
issue as it affects everyone here so I'm thinking that language; views
expressed might be stronger...

Regards

Patricia

-----Original Message-----
From: Smith, Ella [mailto:E.Smith@napier.ac.uk]
Sent: 13 June 2007 11:45 am
To: <email obscured>
Subject: [UKIE-EDem] Writing governance statements for e-participation
projects

Hi,

By governance statements I mean things like "Conditions of Use" and "Privacy
Policy" - guidelines to encourage good manners in the forum (or whatever),
as well as rules to support moderation. Hmm I should add legal disclaimers
as well.

I'm making a kind of list of these kind of statements and would be glad if
you could help me - by sending examples or URLs.

I'm especially interested in how these came about. Who was involved in
writing them? Do they change/grow over time? Has anyone managed to shrink
them?

(Ross Ferguson's comments about making it clear who moderated the
Westminster Parliament's Forums are interesting here too. Was that on
another list Ross?)

ITC have always favoured short sweet here. E.g. from the Highland Youth
Voice website:
Conditions of Use
Please take care of yourself by not putting any contact information in your
comment - don't give anyone's email address, home address or phone number.
Please take care of your readers by writing with respect and trying to make
your point clearly and briefly. Comments should be less than 150 words. We
will remove comments if we think they contain offensive or abusive language
or if they could be libellous. If you want to say something but you have a
good reason to be afraid to put your name by your comment, you can fill in a
special form, which will stop your name being attached to the comment. This
will be checked by someone before it goes on to the site.
Inclusion of any statement or comment in this site does not indicate that
the Highland Wellbeing Alliance or the ITC endorse it or take any
responsibility for it.
http://www.highlandyouthvoice.org/YourVoice/conditions.asp

(ok I am asking you to do my work, but I'm hoping we'll also build a useful
resource this way too)

Ella Smith

International Teledemocracy Centre
Napier University
10 Colinton Road
Edinburgh, EH10 5DT

Telephone: +44 (0) 131 455 2392  Fax:  +44 (0) 131 455 2282
Email: <email obscured>

http://itc.napier.ac.uk

This message is intended for the addressee(s) only and should not be read,
copied or disclosed to anyone else outwith the University without the
permission of the sender.
It is your responsibility to ensure that this message and any attachments
are scanned for viruses or other defects. Napier University does not accept
liability for any loss or damage which may result from this email or any
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From: Pete Thomson Date: 2007 Jun 15 10:57 UTC Short link

I think the fears are certainly exaggerated. This is unlikely to be a
problem in the early stages, and some forums run for years without
having a problem. On the other hand, those of us who've been around the
Internet for a long time will have seen the odd forum/mailing
list/newsgroup made useless by spam, flame wars and/or cliquishness - so
the fears aren't completely unfounded. Maybe many forums never actually
get to the scale of participation, and depth of engagement with serious
issues, where they matter enough for anyone to cause trouble?

Regards, Peter.

--
Peter Thomson
Policy Officer (e-government), Office of the Chief Executive,
Wolverhampton City Council, Civic Centre, Wolverhampton WV1 1SH, UK
Tel: (+44) 1902 554048   Fax: (+44) 1902 554030   Web:
http://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Shane McCracken [mailto:shane@gallomanor.com]
> Sent: 15 June 2007 10:36
> To: <email obscured>
> Subject: Re: [UKIE-EDem] Writing governance statements for
> e-participation projects
>
> Have we reached ten yet?  Carol's removed two posts, Geoff
> one, Patricia is yet to reach those heady heights.  There
> must be more out there...
>
> I only ask because we did some research for ICELE last year
> which involved talking to a few councils about e-democracy
> and a fairly consistent reaction to the idea of discussion
> boards was that a large amount of moderation would be
> required and they were worried about "opening the floodgates"
> and losing control.
>
> Is it possible that the fears are unfounded? ;-)
>
> Shane
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Patricia Donald [mailto:Patricia@adviceni.net]
> Sent: 15 June 2007 10:12
> To: <email obscured>
> Subject: Re: [UKIE-EDem] Writing governance statements for
> e-participation projects
>
> Hi Ella
>
> We at Advice NI have run 4 public e-consultations in the last
> 2 years and haven't gone beyond the Forum rules and policies
> that come as standard with the discussion forum package we
> are using (web wiz forums).  And now that I've reread it
> realise that it quotes US law.
>
> http://www.adviceni.net/econsultation/registration_rules.asp?F
> ID=0&SID=8
> 6a3a84457ae95ccbb53239a286ee34a
>
>
> We haven't yet had to remove a message or ban a person.  We
> use the Welcome message to put up details of who is
> moderating, why we are running the e-consultation and what we
> intend doing with the outcome.
>
> We're hoping to run an e-consultation on the introduction of
> water charges to Northern Ireland in the coming months.  This
> is a highly controversial issue as it affects everyone here
> so I'm thinking that language; views expressed might be stronger...
>
> Regards
>
> Patricia
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Smith, Ella [mailto:E.Smith@napier.ac.uk]
> Sent: 13 June 2007 11:45 am
> To: <email obscured>
> Subject: [UKIE-EDem] Writing governance statements for
> e-participation projects
>
> Hi,
>
> By governance statements I mean things like "Conditions of
> Use" and "Privacy Policy" - guidelines to encourage good
> manners in the forum (or whatever), as well as rules to
> support moderation. Hmm I should add legal disclaimers as well.
>
> I'm making a kind of list of these kind of statements and
> would be glad if you could help me - by sending examples or URLs.
>
> I'm especially interested in how these came about. Who was
> involved in writing them? Do they change/grow over time? Has
> anyone managed to shrink them?
>
> (Ross Ferguson's comments about making it clear who moderated
> the Westminster Parliament's Forums are interesting here too.
> Was that on another list Ross?)
>
> ITC have always favoured short sweet here. E.g. from the
> Highland Youth Voice website:
> Conditions of Use
> Please take care of yourself by not putting any contact
> information in your comment - don't give anyone's email
> address, home address or phone number.
> Please take care of your readers by writing with respect and
> trying to make your point clearly and briefly. Comments
> should be less than 150 words. We will remove comments if we
> think they contain offensive or abusive language or if they
> could be libellous. If you want to say something but you have
> a good reason to be afraid to put your name by your comment,
> you can fill in a special form, which will stop your name
> being attached to the comment. This will be checked by
> someone before it goes on to the site.
> Inclusion of any statement or comment in this site does not
> indicate that the Highland Wellbeing Alliance or the ITC
> endorse it or take any responsibility for it.
> http://www.highlandyouthvoice.org/YourVoice/conditions.asp
>
> (ok I am asking you to do my work, but I'm hoping we'll also
> build a useful resource this way too)
>
> Ella Smith
>
> International Teledemocracy Centre
> Napier University
> 10 Colinton Road
> Edinburgh, EH10 5DT
>
> Telephone: +44 (0) 131 455 2392  Fax:  +44 (0) 131 455 2282
> Email: <email obscured>
>
> http://itc.napier.ac.uk
>
>
>
> This message is intended for the addressee(s) only and should
> not be read, copied or disclosed to anyone else outwith the
> University without the permission of the sender.
> It is your responsibility to ensure that this message and any
> attachments are scanned for viruses or other defects. Napier
> University does not accept liability for any loss or damage
> which may result from this email or any attachment, or for
> errors or omissions arising after it was sent. Email is not a
> secure medium. Email entering the University's system is
> subject to routine monitoring and filtering by the University.
>
> Member profile for Ella:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/smithella
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
> Group home for UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/ukie
>
> Replies go to members of UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange
> with all posts on this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/
>
> For digest version or to leave UK and Ireland E-Democracy
> Exchange, email <email obscured> with "digest on" or
> "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange is hosted by Democracies
> Online - http://dowire.org.
>
>
> Member profile for Patricia:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/patricia
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
> Group home for UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/ukie
>
> Replies go to members of UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange
> with all posts on this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/
>
> For digest version or to leave UK and Ireland E-Democracy
> Exchange, email <email obscured> with "digest on" or
> "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange is hosted by Democracies
> Online - http://dowire.org.
>
>
> Member profile for Shane:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/shanegallomanor
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
> Group home for UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/ukie
>
> Replies go to members of UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange
> with all posts on this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/
>
> For digest version or to leave UK and Ireland E-Democracy
> Exchange, email <email obscured> with "digest on" or
> "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> UK and Ireland E-Democracy Exchange is hosted by Democracies
> Online - http://dowire.org.
>
>

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From: Steven Clift Date: 2007 Jun 15 16:29 UTC Short link

Shane McCracken wrote:

a fairly consistent reaction
> to the idea of discussion boards was that a large amount of moderation would
> be required and they were worried about "opening the floodgates" and losing
> control.
>
> Is it possible that the fears are unfounded? ;-)

I think it is the fear of giving up control and an unwillingness to task a
civil
servant to pre-moderation duties (which they mistaken assume is the only "safe"
way to host interactivity).  Typical "e-consultations" however are pretty
"safe"
because they are typically based on an agenda determined by local councils not
the participants themselves.

In terms of terms, I think you need to design them based on your (democratic)
goals NOT some broader Internet ideal or myth that anyone can be a dog.

Issues Forums are positioned between the often anti-institutional free and open
web forum based on aliases or the (growing number of) NIMBY blogs led by
someone
with an ax to grind against a council on one side and government-administered
often top-down online consultations on the other.

Our extensive rule set, including real names and posting volume restrictions
have evolved since 1994 around the notion of agenda-setting, trust, with a
future eye toward citizen-led problem-solving.

The full list is here:  http://e-democracy.org/rules

A few things that we do differently:

1. Individuals have a right to participate. They can lose that right based on
violations of the rules. We have a warning and suspension system with some due
process.

2. We do not pre or post-moderate posts. After over a decade we've removed two
posts (mental illness issue), annotated one, and changed one subject line.
That's it and these examples involved extensive Board review. Forum managers do
not have the right to change/remove content themselves.

3. Copyright remains with the person posting/original author.  We have
permission to reuse. This contrasts with most media or commercially hosted
forums.  We may decide to apply the creative commons more formally to our
forums
in the future.

4. Accept the good. Lots of folks in academic circles have very high
expectations for deliberation.  If our forums are 75% civil/substantial and 25%
junk at a low low cost, we can afford them while if we seek 95% quality they'd
cost 5x as much and may not have enough "life" to draw sustained participation.

In the end however, rules are more a foundation piece. Most important is the
short description of a forum (a "charter" as we call it) along with public and
private facilitation that establishes early social norms toward civility.

Cheers,
Steven Clift

P.S. Our terms summary:

1.  Sign Posts - Use your real name.

2.  Limits on Posting - Two per member per day in most forum charters.

3.  Keep Topics within Forum Purpose - Local issues on a local forum for
example.

4.  Be Civil - This is a public forum with real people. Respect among citizens
with differing views is our cornerstone.

5.  No Attacks or Threats - This keeps the forums safe. If content is illegal
it
will be forwarded to the proper legal authorities.

6.  Private Stays Private - Don't forward private replies without permission.

7.  Avoid False Rumors - Asking for clarification of what you've heard in the
community can be appropriate if issues-based. You alone are responsible for
what
you post.

8.  Right to Post and Reply - Sharing your knowledge and opinions with your
fellow citizens is a democratic right.

9.  Items Not Allowed in Forums - No attachments, etc.

10. Public Content and Use - You are sharing your content, but retain your
copyright.

11. Warnings - You may receive informal or official warnings from the Forum
Manager.

12. Suspension - With your second official warning in one year, you are
suspended for two weeks. It goes up from there.

13. Appeals Process - You can appeal a warning(s) once you receive a third
warning and six month removal. About 1 in 1500 forum members each year have
appealed a six month removal in past years.

From: Jill Sanders Date: 2007 Jun 16 07:02 UTC Short link

Yes, we do check.  We send participants of www.oncom.org.uk a key as part of
the registration.  We won't accept web mail addresses.  If we are in doubt
we send the key to their home address, which we ask for.  We have discovered
a few attempts to fool - quite clever  with addresses given that don't exist
(empty plot, for example).  When that happens we contact the registered user
concerned and perhaps their registration is withdrawn if things are found to
be unsatisfactory.  I doubt all participants would know each other offliine
though active citizens do tend to be better connected across a borough than
others.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Pete Thomson" <Pete.Thomson@wolverhampton.gov.uk>
To: <ukie@groups.dowire.org>
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 9:45 AM
Subject: Re: [UKIE-EDem] Writing governance statements for e-participation
projects


Jill, you wrote:

> Everyone who contributes on our site, whether citizen
> journalist, councillor, individual, police officer,
> camfpaigner, does so in their own name and everyone knows who
> that is.

But how does "everyone know who that is"? Do you check that participants
are who they say, do all the participants already know each other
offline, or what?

Regards, Peter.

--
Peter Thomson
Policy Officer (e-government), Office of the Chief Executive,
Wolverhampton City Council, Civic Centre, Wolverhampton WV1 1SH, UK
Tel: (+44) 1902 554048   Fax: (+44) 1902 554030   Web:
http://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk



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the intended recipient, you may not copy, disclose,
distribute or use it in any unauthorised manner.  If you
have received this email in error please notify us by
email to <email obscured> and then delete
it and any attachments accompanying it.  Please note that
Wolverhampton City Council cannot guarantee that this
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intercepted and amended.
Any views or opinions expressed within this email are
those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those
of Wolverhampton City Council and no contractual
arrangement is intended to arise from this communication.
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Member profile for Pete Thomson:
http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/petethomson


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From: Jill Sanders Date: 2007 Jun 16 07:06 UTC Short link

The fears are well founded.  Look at unchecked forums - full of dodgy links
and attempts at commercial promotions of one kind or another.  No good, no
credibility, no point.  Constant vigilance is needed even when having people
accountable for what they publish in their own names, but it makes all the
difference.  What we have to look for in www.oncom.org.uk VoxPop iis hasty
correspondence and antagonism and flying accusations.  But being courteous
etc. is in our code of conduct and everyone registering signs up to it all
and they are held to it.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Shane McCracken" <shane@gallomanor.com>
To: <ukie@groups.dowire.org>
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 10:35 AM
Subject: Re: [UKIE-EDem] Writing governance statements for e-participation
projects

Have we reached ten yet?  Carol's removed two posts, Geoff one, Patricia is
yet to reach those heady heights.  There must be more out there...

I only ask because we did some research for ICELE last year which involved
talking to a few councils about e-democracy and a fairly consistent reaction
to the idea of discussion boards was that a large amount of moderation would
be required and they were worried about "opening the floodgates" and losing
control.

Is it possible that the fears are unfounded? ;-)

Shane

-----Original Message-----
From: Patricia Donald [mailto:Patricia@adviceni.net]
Sent: 15 June 2007 10:12
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [UKIE-EDem] Writing governance statements for e-participation
projects

Hi Ella

We at Advice NI have run 4 public e-consultations in the last 2 years and
haven't gone beyond the Forum rules and policies that come as standard with
the discussion forum package we are using (web wiz forums).  And now that
I've reread it realise that it quotes US law.

http://www.adviceni.net/econsultation/registration_rules.asp?FID=0&SID=8
6a3a84457ae95ccbb53239a286ee34a

We haven't yet had to remove a message or ban a person.  We use the Welcome
message to put up details of who is moderating, why we are running the
e-consultation and what we intend doing with the outcome.

We're hoping to run an e-consultation on the introduction of water charges
to Northern Ireland in the coming months.  This is a highly controversial
issue as it affects everyone here so I'm thinking that language; views
expressed might be stronger...

Regards

Patricia

-----Original Message-----
From: Smith, Ella [mailto:E.Smith@napier.ac.uk]
Sent: 13 June 2007 11:45 am
To: <email obscured>
Subject: [UKIE-EDem] Writing governance statements for e-participation
projects

Hi,

By governance statements I mean things like "Conditions of Use" and "Privacy
Policy" - guidelines to encourage good manners in the forum (or whatever),
as well as rules to support moderation. Hmm I should add legal disclaimers
as well.

I'm making a kind of list of these kind of statements and would be glad if
you could help me - by sending examples or URLs.

I'm especially interested in how these came about. Who was involved in
writing them? Do they change/grow over time? Has anyone managed to shrink
them?

(Ross Ferguson's comments about making it clear who moderated the
Westminster Parliament's Forums are interesting here too. Was that on
another list Ross?)

ITC have always favoured short sweet here. E.g. from the Highland Youth
Voice website:
Conditions of Use
Please take care of yourself by not putting any contact information in your
comment - don't give anyone's email address, home address or phone number.
Please take care of your readers by writing with respect and trying to make
your point clearly and briefly. Comments should be less than 150 words. We
will remove comments if we think they contain offensive or abusive language
or if they could be libellous. If you want to say something but you have a
good reason to be afraid to put your name by your comment, you can fill in a
special form, which will stop your name being attached to the comment. This
will be checked by someone before it goes on to the site.
Inclusion of any statement or comment in this site does not indicate that
the Highland Wellbeing Alliance or the ITC endorse it or take any
responsibility for it.
http://www.highlandyouthvoice.org/YourVoice/conditions.asp

(ok I am asking you to do my work, but I'm hoping we'll also build a useful
resource this way too)

Ella Smith

International Teledemocracy Centre
Napier University
10 Colinton Road
Edinburgh, EH10 5DT

Telephone: +44 (0) 131 455 2392  Fax:  +44 (0) 131 455 2282
Email: <email obscured>

http://itc.napier.ac.uk

This message is intended for the addressee(s) only and should not be read,
copied or disclosed to anyone else outwith the University without the
permission of the sender.
It is your responsibility to ensure that this message and any attachments
are scanned for viruses or other defects. Napier University does not accept
liability for any loss or damage which may result from this email or any
attachment, or for errors or omissions arising after it was sent. Email is
not a secure medium. Email entering the University's system is subject to
routine monitoring and filtering by the University.

Member profile for Ella:
http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/smithella

-----------------------------------------

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