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There are 15 posts — by 8 authors — in this topic.
Latest post made by Craig Burton at Aug 22 02:17 UTC

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From	File	Date
Craig Burton	smime.p7s	Aug 22 02:17 UTC

From: Steven Clift Date: Jul 22 21:08 UTC Short link

I recently received a query on the "top ten local governments"
supporting online transparency, info access, participation. I know of
no such list much list.

What are your top checklist items that  you'd use to compare
governments/communities more widely in terms of their measurable
support for e-democracy?

Steven Clift
E-Democracy.Org

From: Krisdev Date: Jul 23 06:37 UTC Short link

My reply is as follows:

1. Unique identity for every citizen
2. Citizen to be made aware of all activities / transactions of local
government in a transparent way through Internet, mobile phone, tv,
radio,newspaper, etc.
3. Citizen to have access to information on demand through Internet /
telephone without having to approach officials.
4. Citizens to have easy access to medium of filing petitions through
Internet / telephone.
5. citizens should be able to know the status of the petition online through
Internet / telephone.
6. Citizens should be able to vote on any issue online through Internet /
telephone.
7. Duties and responsibilities of citizens should be made known at all times
through public media.
8. Rights of citizens should be made known through Internet, telephone and
public media.
9. Facilities extended to citizens to lead a peaceful life must be made
known.
10. Score card of performance of public institutions should be widely
publicized.

Kris Dev
e-Gov consultant
India.

From: Steven Clift Date: Jul 29 18:56 UTC Short link

OK, how about others?

On my list, a few items I'd measure:

1. All public meetings are announced online with agendas (1 point), minutes (1
point), and all handouts and staff reports (2 points, bonus point for online
before a meeting).
2. All elected officials have full contact information, a photo, brief bio, and
list of committees/roles as well as an e-mail address listed (bonus point), an
optional web contact form, with -2 point if no e-mail address is listed
publicly.
3. The public is invited to submit electronic testimony for at least 48 hours
after an in-person meeting and this testimony is added to the website/meeting
record.

What about you?

Steven Clift

From: Peter Chen Date: Jul 29 22:33 UTC Short link

I'd add some suggestions:

	* Performance information provided in traditional (annual report) and raw data
forms, for reanalysis by 3rd parties
	* Provision of local mapping information relevant for local organizations
	* Clearly articulated policy development and implementation process provided
online in plain lanugage
	* Meaningful organizational structure information provided
	* Ability to subscribe / track policy issues and project and be notified in a
timely manner of changes in their status
	* Hooks (technical and or administrative) into information system by local
interest groups which represent the community

 For what they're worth,

Peter

_ ___________________ _

Peter John Chen
Sydney Australia
0432 845 766
<email obscured>

From: Mcnuttjg To Update Date: Jul 30 01:37 UTC Short link

Add digital divide and degree of wired local associations. Maybe active
political bloggers?

John McNutt

From: Mick Date: Jul 30 07:48 UTC Short link

One thing I don't think has been mentioned is a measure of usage i.e.
perhaps trust. Its great having loads of e-demo stuff but if nobody uses
it because they fon't trust/accept/want it, what then? Therefor amount
of usage against any input metric.

Mick http://greatemancipator.com

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of John McNutt
Sent: 30 July 2008 02:29
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

Add digital divide and degree of wired local associations. Maybe active
political bloggers?

John McNutt

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Steven Clift
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 2:57 PM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

OK, how about others?

On my list, a few items I'd measure:

1. All public meetings are announced online with agendas (1 point),
minutes (1 point), and all handouts and staff reports (2 points, bonus
point for online before a meeting). 2. All elected officials have full
contact information, a photo, brief bio, and list of committees/roles as
well as an e-mail address listed (bonus point), an optional web contact
form, with -2 point if no e-mail address is listed publicly. 3. The
public is invited to submit electronic testimony for at least 48 hours
after an in-person meeting and this testimony is added to the
website/meeting record.

What about you?

Steven Clift

-----------------------------------------
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From: Mcnuttjg To Update Date: Jul 30 13:31 UTC Short link

That would seem to argue for both a social capital measure and a trust in
government measure

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Mick Phythian
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 2:27 AM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

One thing I don't think has been mentioned is a measure of usage i.e.
perhaps trust. Its great having loads of e-demo stuff but if nobody uses
it because they fon't trust/accept/want it, what then? Therefor amount
of usage against any input metric.

Mick http://greatemancipator.com

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of John McNutt
Sent: 30 July 2008 02:29
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

Add digital divide and degree of wired local associations. Maybe active
political bloggers?

John McNutt

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Steven Clift
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 2:57 PM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

OK, how about others?

On my list, a few items I'd measure:

1. All public meetings are announced online with agendas (1 point),
minutes (1 point), and all handouts and staff reports (2 points, bonus
point for online before a meeting). 2. All elected officials have full
contact information, a photo, brief bio, and list of committees/roles as
well as an e-mail address listed (bonus point), an optional web contact
form, with -2 point if no e-mail address is listed publicly. 3. The
public is invited to submit electronic testimony for at least 48 hours
after an in-person meeting and this testimony is added to the
website/meeting record.

What about you?

Steven Clift

-----------------------------------------
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http://groups.dowire.org/groups/research

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From: Mick Date: Jul 30 17:23 UTC Short link

I find terms like social capital and public value to be of little use,
although in the widest sense an improvement in social capital may
indicate increased trust.

Mick

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of John McNutt
Sent: 30 July 2008 14:30
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

That would seem to argue for both a social capital measure and a trust
in government measure

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Mick Phythian
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 2:27 AM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

One thing I don't think has been mentioned is a measure of usage i.e.
perhaps trust. Its great having loads of e-demo stuff but if nobody uses
it because they fon't trust/accept/want it, what then? Therefor amount
of usage against any input metric.

Mick http://greatemancipator.com

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of John McNutt
Sent: 30 July 2008 02:29
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

Add digital divide and degree of wired local associations. Maybe active
political bloggers?

John McNutt

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Steven Clift
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 2:57 PM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

OK, how about others?

On my list, a few items I'd measure:

1. All public meetings are announced online with agendas (1 point),
minutes (1 point), and all handouts and staff reports (2 points, bonus
point for online before a meeting). 2. All elected officials have full
contact information, a photo, brief bio, and list of committees/roles as
well as an e-mail address listed (bonus point), an optional web contact
form, with -2 point if no e-mail address is listed publicly. 3. The
public is invited to submit electronic testimony for at least 48 hours
after an in-person meeting and this testimony is added to the
website/meeting record.

What about you?

Steven Clift

-----------------------------------------
Group home for E-Democracy and E-Government Researchers Network:
http://groups.dowire.org/groups/research

Replies go to members of E-Democracy and E-Government Researchers
Network with all posts on this topic here:
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Network,
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-----------------------------------------
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From: Mcnuttjg To Update Date: Jul 30 17:37 UTC Short link

Sorry but I can't agree. Social capital is more complex than merely trust
(which is very difficult to measure reliably) in than it also speaks to the
underlying networks that make a government function. Usage does not equal
trust. If you mean things like hits, page views and so forth that's a long
way from any reasonable measure of trust in government.

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Mick Phythian
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 1:21 PM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

I find terms like social capital and public value to be of little use,
although in the widest sense an improvement in social capital may
indicate increased trust.

Mick

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of John McNutt
Sent: 30 July 2008 14:30
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

That would seem to argue for both a social capital measure and a trust
in government measure

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Mick Phythian
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 2:27 AM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

One thing I don't think has been mentioned is a measure of usage i.e.
perhaps trust. Its great having loads of e-demo stuff but if nobody uses
it because they fon't trust/accept/want it, what then? Therefor amount
of usage against any input metric.

Mick http://greatemancipator.com

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of John McNutt
Sent: 30 July 2008 02:29
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

Add digital divide and degree of wired local associations. Maybe active
political bloggers?

John McNutt

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Steven Clift
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 2:57 PM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

OK, how about others?

On my list, a few items I'd measure:

1. All public meetings are announced online with agendas (1 point),
minutes (1 point), and all handouts and staff reports (2 points, bonus
point for online before a meeting). 2. All elected officials have full
contact information, a photo, brief bio, and list of committees/roles as
well as an e-mail address listed (bonus point), an optional web contact
form, with -2 point if no e-mail address is listed publicly. 3. The
public is invited to submit electronic testimony for at least 48 hours
after an in-person meeting and this testimony is added to the
website/meeting record.

What about you?

Steven Clift

-----------------------------------------
Group home for E-Democracy and E-Government Researchers Network:
http://groups.dowire.org/groups/research

Replies go to members of E-Democracy and E-Government Researchers
Network with all posts on this topic here:
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____________________________________________________________
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From: Mick Date: Jul 30 17:52 UTC Short link

Can't agree more! It's the very complexity of social capital that would
make it difficult to measure but trust in government using the medium
must contribute towards it...

I never said usage = trust but trust will increase usage but as a
measure usage can't replace trust.

What I think we need is a measure of proportionate activity that will
indicate increasing or decreasing trust in the medium etc (not
particularly in government) - that people become more willing to express
opinions or attempt to have an effect via the e-mediums?

M

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of John McNutt
Sent: 30 July 2008 18:37
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

Sorry but I can't agree. Social capital is more complex than merely
trust (which is very difficult to measure reliably) in than it also
speaks to the underlying networks that make a government function. Usage
does not equal trust. If you mean things like hits, page views and so
forth that's a long way from any reasonable measure of trust in
government.

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Mick Phythian
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 1:21 PM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

I find terms like social capital and public value to be of little use,
although in the widest sense an improvement in social capital may
indicate increased trust.

Mick

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of John McNutt
Sent: 30 July 2008 14:30
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

That would seem to argue for both a social capital measure and a trust
in government measure

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Mick Phythian
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 2:27 AM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

One thing I don't think has been mentioned is a measure of usage i.e.
perhaps trust. Its great having loads of e-demo stuff but if nobody uses
it because they fon't trust/accept/want it, what then? Therefor amount
of usage against any input metric.

Mick http://greatemancipator.com

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of John McNutt
Sent: 30 July 2008 02:29
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

Add digital divide and degree of wired local associations. Maybe active
political bloggers?

John McNutt

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Steven Clift
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 2:57 PM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

OK, how about others?

On my list, a few items I'd measure:

1. All public meetings are announced online with agendas (1 point),
minutes (1 point), and all handouts and staff reports (2 points, bonus
point for online before a meeting). 2. All elected officials have full
contact information, a photo, brief bio, and list of committees/roles as
well as an e-mail address listed (bonus point), an optional web contact
form, with -2 point if no e-mail address is listed publicly. 3. The
public is invited to submit electronic testimony for at least 48 hours
after an in-person meeting and this testimony is added to the
website/meeting record.

What about you?

Steven Clift

-----------------------------------------
Group home for E-Democracy and E-Government Researchers Network:
http://groups.dowire.org/groups/research

Replies go to members of E-Democracy and E-Government Researchers
Network with all posts on this topic here:
http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/7iOzrCN4mG6tya9vkzW3jI

For digest version or to leave E-Democracy and E-Government Researchers
Network,
email <email obscured>
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E-Democracy and E-Government Researchers Network is hosted by
Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.

____________________________________________________________
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From: Mcnuttjg To Update Date: Jul 30 18:09 UTC Short link

Many of my friends who study social capital would have difficulty with your
contention.

Back to trust and usage. I don't trust many of the websites I visit.  I have
a lot of software on my computer to protect me from them.

While I will concede that activity is important, it speaks more to other
factors.  I also think that equating usage with participation is
problematic. What kind of usage is more critical.  If I go to my town's
website to check on road closings or trash collection, that isn't political
participation (its more like low level e-commerce)  but if I send the city
manager e-mail it might be.

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Mick Phythian
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 1:53 PM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

Can't agree more! It's the very complexity of social capital that would
make it difficult to measure but trust in government using the medium
must contribute towards it...

I never said usage = trust but trust will increase usage but as a
measure usage can't replace trust.

What I think we need is a measure of proportionate activity that will
indicate increasing or decreasing trust in the medium etc (not
particularly in government) - that people become more willing to express
opinions or attempt to have an effect via the e-mediums?

M

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of John McNutt
Sent: 30 July 2008 18:37
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

Sorry but I can't agree. Social capital is more complex than merely
trust (which is very difficult to measure reliably) in than it also
speaks to the underlying networks that make a government function. Usage
does not equal trust. If you mean things like hits, page views and so
forth that's a long way from any reasonable measure of trust in
government.

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Mick Phythian
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 1:21 PM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

I find terms like social capital and public value to be of little use,
although in the widest sense an improvement in social capital may
indicate increased trust.

Mick

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of John McNutt
Sent: 30 July 2008 14:30
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

That would seem to argue for both a social capital measure and a trust
in government measure

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Mick Phythian
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 2:27 AM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

One thing I don't think has been mentioned is a measure of usage i.e.
perhaps trust. Its great having loads of e-demo stuff but if nobody uses
it because they fon't trust/accept/want it, what then? Therefor amount
of usage against any input metric.

Mick http://greatemancipator.com

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of John McNutt
Sent: 30 July 2008 02:29
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

Add digital divide and degree of wired local associations. Maybe active
political bloggers?

John McNutt

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Steven Clift
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 2:57 PM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

OK, how about others?

On my list, a few items I'd measure:

1. All public meetings are announced online with agendas (1 point),
minutes (1 point), and all handouts and staff reports (2 points, bonus
point for online before a meeting). 2. All elected officials have full
contact information, a photo, brief bio, and list of committees/roles as
well as an e-mail address listed (bonus point), an optional web contact
form, with -2 point if no e-mail address is listed publicly. 3. The
public is invited to submit electronic testimony for at least 48 hours
after an in-person meeting and this testimony is added to the
website/meeting record.

What about you?

Steven Clift

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From: Mick Date: Jul 30 18:58 UTC Short link

Having had an English local authority web site, plus all the e-democracy
appendages, under my control for nearly ten years I've watched things
grow (and I've read most of the tosh on social capital). The usage has
crept up, with the occasional burst as people have gained confidence in
the medium and that includes whether their emails and e-forms will be
responded to. It also includes contacting their elected representatives
and expecting them to act (trust). I've given the elected reps websites
and blogs, computers and email - I have to trust them to use them
properly and that the public will contact via these channels. As it is
the web usage is dead slow by the elected members - OK they receive and
respond to emails but they have yet to get into blogging - where
councils do get it done there's often a member of staff doing it!

I've also set up public forums that don't get used - most likely through
lack of trust that action will not occur. It needs to be seen to be
followed through and it needs people to use the channels to make it
happen.

Participation happens when people contact their elected rep and they can
see them passing on the action to an employee to sort out. Where the
public lose trust/faith is where this doesn't occur or the staffer does
nothing! (and I've seen this happen elsewhere).

Essentially, counting the visitors gets nowhere - watching them over a
period helps but it needs to be at usage and performance. Just putting
up email addresses and blogs does nothing, they need promoting.

Mick

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of John McNutt
Sent: 30 July 2008 19:10
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

Many of my friends who study social capital would have difficulty with
your contention.

Back to trust and usage. I don't trust many of the websites I visit.  I
have a lot of software on my computer to protect me from them.

While I will concede that activity is important, it speaks more to other
factors.  I also think that equating usage with participation is
problematic. What kind of usage is more critical.  If I go to my town's
website to check on road closings or trash collection, that isn't
political participation (its more like low level e-commerce)  but if I
send the city
manager e-mail it might be.

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Mick Phythian
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 1:53 PM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

Can't agree more! It's the very complexity of social capital that would
make it difficult to measure but trust in government using the medium
must contribute towards it...

I never said usage = trust but trust will increase usage but as a
measure usage can't replace trust.

What I think we need is a measure of proportionate activity that will
indicate increasing or decreasing trust in the medium etc (not
particularly in government) - that people become more willing to express
opinions or attempt to have an effect via the e-mediums?

M

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of John McNutt
Sent: 30 July 2008 18:37
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

Sorry but I can't agree. Social capital is more complex than merely
trust (which is very difficult to measure reliably) in than it also
speaks to the underlying networks that make a government function. Usage
does not equal trust. If you mean things like hits, page views and so
forth that's a long way from any reasonable measure of trust in
government.

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Mick Phythian
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 1:21 PM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

I find terms like social capital and public value to be of little use,
although in the widest sense an improvement in social capital may
indicate increased trust.

Mick

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of John McNutt
Sent: 30 July 2008 14:30
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

That would seem to argue for both a social capital measure and a trust
in government measure

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Mick Phythian
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 2:27 AM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

One thing I don't think has been mentioned is a measure of usage i.e.
perhaps trust. Its great having loads of e-demo stuff but if nobody uses
it because they fon't trust/accept/want it, what then? Therefor amount
of usage against any input metric.

Mick http://greatemancipator.com

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of John McNutt
Sent: 30 July 2008 02:29
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

Add digital divide and degree of wired local associations. Maybe active
political bloggers?

John McNutt

-----Original Message-----
From: <email obscured> [mailto:research@groups.dowire.org] On
Behalf Of Steven Clift
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 2:57 PM
To: <email obscured>
Subject: Re: [EDemR] Metrics to judge local e-democracy

OK, how about others?

On my list, a few items I'd measure:

1. All public meetings are announced online with agendas (1 point),
minutes (1 point), and all handouts and staff reports (2 points, bonus
point for online before a meeting). 2. All elected officials have full
contact information, a photo, brief bio, and list of committees/roles as
well as an e-mail address listed (bonus point), an optional web contact
form, with -2 point if no e-mail address is listed publicly. 3. The
public is invited to submit electronic testimony for at least 48 hours
after an in-person meeting and this testimony is added to the
website/meeting record.

What about you?

Steven Clift

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From: Simon Smith Date: Aug 01 13:45 UTC Short link

> 3. The public is invited to submit electronic testimony for at least 48
hours after an in-person meeting and this testimony is added to the
website/meeting record.
Are there cases where the practice described in point 3 has actually been
followed?

I'd endorse Peter's final suggestion about hooks into the system by
community-based interest groups, and John's about wired local associations
and active political bloggers. These are indicators of the degree of
integration of the local websphere: is the Council website an island, or
does it link seamlessly with other sites that contribute to local democracy?
That's a key question for me.

More broadly, indicators need to relate to context, especially if we're to
be able to compare cross-nationally.
What counts as transparent, accessible and participative in one country
might not be the same in another Variables include political culture, which
shapes public expectations, the legal requirements on authorities as to what
information they should publish, their size, budgetary autonomy,
competences, etc. For instance, Peart & Diaz found that North American local
authorities scored better on what they called transparency measures, with
lots of webcasting, for example, whereas European local authorities scored
particularly well on deliberative measures, with lots of discussion forums.
See http://edc.unige.ch/edcadmin/images/ESF%20-%20Local%20E-Democracy.pdf
It's impossible to make comparisons on a rank-order scale without taking
into account the underlying cultural factors that might explain different
choices.

Simon Smith

2008/7/29 Steven Clift <clift@e-democracy.org>

From: Urban Ubiquity Date: Aug 01 15:11 UTC Short link

01.08.2008

The subjects at hand interest me a great deal. My question for everyone is
this: Can new technologies of communication really help to better political
systems, advance democracy and stimulate public participation in the
political process?

For there to be a valid and legitimate change, I think neither the support
(i.e., the communication tool) nor the process is the answer. We can
modernize the support all we want; it has been and will always be the
mentality of the individuals (i.e., citizens and politicians) and their
willingness to participate. When we speak about E-democracy - a term that I
still deem premature given the state of things - not only do we have to take
into account the willingness from both parties (i.e., government and
citizen) to act, but also the level of *confidence *- not trust - each party
has in the other.

(Note: The word *trust *is too strong, close to impossible to measure and
perhaps too moral a word to be associated with politics or democracy. With
the word *confidence, *there's an idea of probability that lingers (i.e., I
am confident my elected official will do what she or he says), and thus
seems a little more appropriate.

Can new technologies of communication really help to bring politicians
closer to understanding the challenges citizens face and vice versa? Yes, I
believe they can.

I think the first step, though, should be e-participation and not
e-democracy. For the latter to work the way we want it, the former must
first be sought.



On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 3:45 PM, Simon Smith <simesmith@gmail.com> wrote:

> > 3. The public is invited to submit electronic testimony for at least 48
> hours after an in-person meeting and this testimony is added to the
> website/meeting record.
> Are there cases where the practice described in point 3 has actually been
> followed?
>
> I'd endorse Peter's final suggestion about hooks into the system by
> community-based interest groups, and John's about wired local associations
> and active political bloggers. These are indicators of the degree of
> integration of the local websphere: is the Council website an island, or
> does it link seamlessly with other sites that contribute to local
> democracy?
> That's a key question for me.
>
> More broadly, indicators need to relate to context, especially if we're to
> be able to compare cross-nationally.
> What counts as transparent, accessible and participative in one country
> might not be the same in another Variables include political culture, which
> shapes public expectations, the legal requirements on authorities as to
> what
> information they should publish, their size, budgetary autonomy,
> competences, etc. For instance, Peart & Diaz found that North American
> local
> authorities scored better on what they called transparency measures, with
> lots of webcasting, for example, whereas European local authorities scored
> particularly well on deliberative measures, with lots of discussion forums.
> See http://edc.unige.ch/edcadmin/images/ESF%20-%20Local%20E-Democracy.pdf
> It's impossible to make comparisons on a rank-order scale without taking
> into account the underlying cultural factors that might explain different
> choices.
>
> Simon Smith
>
> 2008/7/29 Steven Clift <clift@e-democracy.org>
>
> > OK, how about others?
> >
> > On my list, a few items I'd measure:
> >
> > 1. All public meetings are announced online with agendas (1 point),
> minutes
> > (1 point), and all handouts and staff reports (2 points, bonus point for
> > online before a meeting).
> > 2. All elected officials have full contact information, a photo, brief
> bio,
> > and list of committees/roles as well as an e-mail address listed (bonus
> > point), an optional web contact form, with -2 point if no e-mail address
> is
> > listed publicly.
> > 3. The public is invited to submit electronic testimony for at least 48
> > hours after an in-person meeting and this testimony is added to the
> > website/meeting record.
> >
> > What about you?
> >
> > Steven Clift
> >
> > -----------------------------------------
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From: Craig Burton Date: Aug 22 02:17 UTC Short link

Steven here is my list FWIW.  My experiences are in remote e-voting but
I have to deal directly with reticent government departments deploying
and evaluating new e-services.

I guess you can substitute "Government" for "The body or agency
attempting to provide democratically-inspired IT-based public services"

1. Does the government listen at the end of the IT tunnel?  Does it
reply?  Are IT-enabled public questions / requests acted upon?  Is there
law in place to have e-Democratic actions handled?  Is there
transparency around Government-end handling of IT-enabled public needs,
wishes, ideas, concerns?
2. Is there a e-whistle blowing service and legislation to protect these
people?
3. Does the government make no IP claims on e-Democratic systems built
for it?  Does Government share its e-Democratic lessons learned,
systems, software, outcomes?
4. Has the government scaled its IT or Para-IT (if I can make up such a
term) administrative staff to provide high quality e-Democratic services?
5. Has the Government provided evidence of a good understanding and
implementation of privacy and security principles?
6. How does the Government deal with conflict in e-Forums and similar?
Does it moderate well?  Does it drive contentious issues to a vote?
Does it bring in experts for moderation / contribution?
7. Are the anticipated outcomes of the e-Democratic services known?
Adhered to? Benchmarked?  Evaluated?
8. I think the above are more than 10 things :-)
Best,

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