Is it worth funding ICELE, asks Coleman
From:
Mary Reid
Date:
Apr 06 03:19 UTC
Short link
You should be able to find all the National Project materials, plus loads
more, on www.icele.org. This is exactly the archive that Ella is looking
for - and you are all welcome to provide further content.
In fact, do add your own details to the People Finder if you haven't done so
already - it's a directory of people and organisations in this field.
It is annoying that the www.edemocracy.gov.uk domain has not been made
available and that everything had to be moved to www.icele.org - the rivalry
between central government departments is beyond my simple understanding.
ICELE - and the National Project before it - has a relatively limited, but
significant, target audience, namely local authorities (hence 'Local'
eDemocracy). It is a tough audience because they tend to be very risk
averse, and also, of course, short of funding for anything that is not
deemed essential. And there are nearly 400 of them, all autonomous, so it is
not a homogeneous audience.
But local councils have got to be softened up and prepared for better
engagement - some of the pressure for better democratic practices will come
quite properly from citizens, but it's good if council officers and
councillors have understood the benefits for themselves.
One thing that ICELE has been tasked with is working with local authorities
through the regions to encourage them to use edemocracy tools. The work it
has done in the background with council officers and elected members has
probably been invisible to the general population except, of course, in the
gradual use of tools.
I think some of you would be surprised at where we have to start from - we
are still having to persuade some (usually older) councillors that making
their email address public might be a good move! It's a very different world
out there!
Mary
Mary Reid
020 8397 1396
www.maryreid.org.uk