eDemocracy: An Information Systems Perspective

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e-DemocracyAn Information Systems Perspective
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Agenda

• Introduction and concepts.
• What do we mean by democracy?
• What do we mean by electronic?.
• Applications Possibilities.
• Applications Realities.
• e-Democracy in action.
• Some reflections.

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Introduction and some concepts
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IS and e-Democracy

• Some thoughts about IS research.
• Web comment quantity yes, quality?
• Limited number of academic contributions to date.
• Issues in the literature
• Technological
• Social
• Political
• Ethical.
• Wide scope.

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Policy Making and Implementation
A Traditional Model
Governance
Leaders
After Steven Clift
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e-Democracy An IS View
e-Politics
Governance
e-Government
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e-Democracy A Second View
Transacting
Involving
Informing
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Current State of Play
e-Government
Many Initiatives
Many Initiatives
Central Government
Local Government
Several Initiatives
Limited Initiatives
e-Democracy
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What do we mean by Democracy?
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Defining Democracy
government of the people, by the people for the
people
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Athenian Democracy

• 5th Century BC.
• Cleisthenes.
• Nature.
• An idealised model.
• Limits.
• Myths.

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Characteristics of Democracy

• An enormously complicated subject.
• Authority (Kratos) derived from the citizen body
  (the Demos).
• Many models.
• Theories and practice.
• Common themes
• Consultation.
• Participation.
• Representation.
• Accountability.
• A civil society.
• The state is its citizens.

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Key Democratic Concepts

• Value of the individual.
• Basic rights
• Freedom of expression
• Freedom of assembly
• Right to organise
• Freedom from arbitrary arrest
• Freedom of movement
• Freedom of religion
• Privacy.
• Independent judiciary.
• Separation of powers.
• Protection of rights of minorities.

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Direct versus Representative
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Representative Democracy

• Representative democracy
• Free and fair elections
• Regular elections
• Real and effective choice at elections
• Right to campaign against the government
• Right of elected body to legislate
• Right of elected body to oppose the government.
• Levels of representation.
• Parties.
• Structures.
• Implications for e-democracy.

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Direct Democracy

• Community involvement in...
• Formulation of policy
• Legislation.
• Community decision making.
• A right to initiate debate.
• Mediation.
• Common mechanisms
• Town hall meetings
• Referenda
• Plebiscites
• Initiatives.

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e-Democracy and Direct Democracy
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Benefits of e- (Direct) Democracy?

• Legitimation.
• Decisions brought closer to the people.
• Public decisions publicly made.
• The popular will accurately expressed.
• Elimination of apathy.
• Elimination of alienation.
• Maximisation of the potential of the citizen
• but
• Inability of citizens to made sound judgements?
• Weakened central authority?
• Dangers to minorities?
• Lack of clear leadership?
• Paralysis in decision making?

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A Cynical View
Democracy substitutes election by the
incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt
few.
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A Spectrum of Options
Direct
Representative
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Democratic Models?
Democracy is a complicated animal
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What do we mean by Electronic?
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The ICT Toolkit - Part 1

• Networking tools
• The Internet
• Extranets
• Private networks
• Webs of all sorts
• e-Mail
• Internet broadcasting
• Search engines
• Chat rooms
• Discussion fora
• Kiosks
• WAP etc. etc. etc..

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The ICT Toolkit - Part 2

• Other tools
• Plain old computer systems
• Plain old telephone service
• Broadcast television
• Broadcast radio
• Interactive digital television
• Decision/groupware technology
• Security technology
• Data mining
• Artificial intelligence.

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The ICT Toolkit

• There are many tools.
• Interaction with social and political reality?
• Effect on social and political reality?
• Many possibilities.
• Experience in other fields
• Changing processes
• Changing economics
• Changing structures
• The customer/product experience.
• Implications for democratic tools and procedures?
• Lets look at some applications

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Applications Possibilities.
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Applications One View
As direct democracy takes root, the American
voter will become more involved and active. We
dont have to wait anymore for the next election
to express our view while the Congress makes
decisions for us. We dont have to wait for a
call from a pollster to speak our piece. We are
going to take the Internet and tell our
representatives what to do whenever we damn well
feel like it. D. Morris, Vote.com
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Applications Another View
E-Democracy is the use of information and
communications technology and strategies by
democratic sectors within the political
processes of local communities, states/regions,
nations and on the global stage. The democratic
sectors include the following democratic actors
governments, elected officials, media (and other
major online portals), civil society
organisations, international governmental
organizations and citizens/voters. Steven
Clift, Publicus.net
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Applications A Third View
E-Democracy is using new digital technology to
enhance the process of democratic relationship
between government and governed, representative
and represented. Stephen Coleman, Oxford
Internet Institute
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Applications Some Possibilities

• Electronic voting.
• On-line voting.
• On-line referenda.
• Broadcasting of meetings of elected
  representatives.
• Publication of information on the web.
• Representations via the web/e-mail.
• e-Lobbying.
• Discussion forums with public servants/politicians
  .
• Public discussion forums.
• Local citizen on-line initiatives.
• On-line opinion polling.
• On-line consultation.
• On-line/interactive/communal decision making.

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A Four Way Classification

• Technologies which
• Automate
• Save effort
• Improve accuracy
• Inform
• Inform electorate
• Lobby politicians.
• Change scale
• Enable certain processes
• Increase frequency.
• Transform
• Change the nature of democracy
• Radically enhance democratic structures.

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A Four Way Classification
 
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Applications Reality
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Some Practical Problems

• The problem of access
• The world wide wait.
• The problem of security
• Do I trust the system - or the politicians?
• Social constraints
• The digital divide.
• The problem of abuse
• How do I know you are you?
• The problem of time
• The demand for instant action.
• An example Issues in referenda.

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Residential Access in Ireland

• Technology Availability
• Dial up land line Universal, but often
  metered.
• Leased line Available, but expensive.
• ISDN Available, but slow and metered.
• Digital Subscriber Line Limited availability as
  yet.
• Cable modem Patchy and quality varies.
• Microwave Limited by topography. Health
• concerns.
• Wireless LAN Still settling down.
• Satellite Available, but limited take-up.
• Mesh Radio Not yet in the frame.
• Fibre to the neighbourhood Limited availability.

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Access Broadband Penetration
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Security Vote Early and Often
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Social Issues Greater Gulfs
Educated Uneducated Young Old Rich
Poor Urban Rural
Will e- simply add to inequity?
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e-Lobbying A Fearful Symmetry
e-lobbying
e-Campaigning
Citizen
Representative
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Abusing the System
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The Problem of Time

• Limited attention span.
• Sound bites and nibbles.
• Information overload.
• The quality of discourse.

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An Example Instant Referenda?

• A seductive idea.
• Complications
• How often?
• Is it mandatory?
• Who is entitled to call one?
• Under what circumstances?
• Is it binding?
• Issue complexity and wording?
• Funding the McKenna judgement.
• Power as the asymmetry of knowledge (Foucault)
• Inertia.

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The Case of Stockwell Day
Moral Never smile encouragingly at the brass
section (Strauss)
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e-Democracy in Action
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Minnesota e-Democracy Project
www.e-democracy.org
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Minnesota e-Democracy Project

• Founded 1994.
• Not-for-profit private organisation.
• On-line public spaces
• Issue areas
• Located areas
• Election areas
• Voter registration on-line
• Links to parties and candidates
• Political announcements
• Municipal announcements.
• On-line public commons.
• Discussion groups.
• Plenty of literature on-line.

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Networked Input and Output?
A New Model
Governance
Citizens
Public Work
After Steven Clift
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On-Line Features (Clift)

• Topical portal.
• e-Mail newsletter.
• Personalisation of e-mail notification.
• Event calendar.
• Frequently asked questions exchange.
• Document library.
• Discussions.
• Other features
• Headline links
• Member directory
• Real time on-line features.
• Example for AIDS
• www.iaen.org

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Barcelona
www.bcn.es
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Barcelona Municipal Government

• Management areas
• Social welfare and education
• Friendly city and youth
• Business and consumers
• Territorial balance and city planning
• Finance and infrastructures
• Environment and city services
• Mobility and security
• Employment and economic promotion
• Land policy and housing
• Cultural policy.
• By district.
• Citizens and students own suggestions.

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Barcelona Municipal Government

• Making e-democracy work
• Each month assigned a topic and district.
• Two months in advance prepare a presentation on
  the topic.
• Prepare a programme for each month on how issue
  will be presented and discussed.
• One month in advance, publicise issue. Plan how
  to gather data, views.
• Meetings, debates, discussions held.
• Controller consolidates information, views
  gathered and reports to Commissioner.
• Government consolidates views from different
  districts on different topics.
• Work required.

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Consulting Canadians
www.consultingcanadians.gc.ca
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Ireland National!
www.richardbruton.net
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Ireland - Local
www.meath.ie
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e-Consultation in the UK

• Work of Stephen Coleman and others.
• Media as a one way conversation.
• Democracy as theatre/performance.
• More access less engagement.
• Tools
• On-line chat rooms
• Information links
• Mediation
• Two cases examined in detail
• Womenspeak
• Communications bill.
• Structure.

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UK e-Consultations Since 1998

• 1998 Data protection bill.
• 1999 Women in science and engineering.
• 1999 e-Democracy.
• 2000 Domestic violence.
• 2000 Family tax credits.
• 2001 Stem cell research.
• 2001 Floods.
• 2001 Parliamentary information strategy.
• 2002 Long term care of the elderly.
• 2002 Draft communications bill.
• Example Stem cell research can be found at
• www.democracyforum.org.uk/stem_cells/stemcells.htm

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UK On-line Consultation

• Four hypotheses
• On-line consultations provide a space for
  inclusive public deliberation
• Supported by the evidence.
• On-line consultations generate and connect
  networks of interest or practice.
• Strong support in one case.
• On-line interaction between representative and
  represented leads to greater trust between them.
• No evidence of this.
• Most on-line discussion is uninformed and of poor
  quality.
• No strong evidence.
• Question of measuring discursive quality.

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Reflections from an IS Viewpoint
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ICT, Admin and Political Science
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The Four Myths of e-Democracy?(Levine)

• Convenience will improve participation.
• Little evidence of this to date.
• The public needs more information.
• But what information?
• The Internet is a large town meeting.
• The limits of electronic communication.
• Context and management are critical.
• Without power brokers, democracy will flourish
• Societies are complex - so is politics.

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Winners and Non Starters?

• Major opportunities
• Information
• Consultation
• On-line debate and discussion
• Less promising/more problematic
• On-line voting
• On-line referenda
• On-line lobbying
• Interactive decision making.
• But..
• Size does matter
• Some options unworkable at a national level
• but could work at local or community level.

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Wide Deployment?
High
Contribution
Low
Time
Then
Now
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Concluding Conjectures

• e-Democracy holds out considerable promise, but
• the possibilities are often oversold.
• Technology can do much, but
• There are short to medium term problems which can
  be surmounted with effort.
• There are longer term social and structural
  problems which may be less easy to solve.
• It is likely to work best on a small scale.
• If e-Democracy is to happen, local government,
  community and specialist groups is where it can
  and should happen first.
• Should this happen, what might it mean for the
  nexus of power in the longer term?

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IS and e-Democracy?
All politics is local
Will all e-politics will be local too?