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Rona Zevin Director, Office of Electronic
Communications City Of Seattle USA

• The Future of Democracy?

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"Modern communications technology, by itself,
will be neither democracy's savior nor its
terminator. But unquestionably it will continue
to have enormous influence, both for better and
for worse, on the nature and character of our
political system."
1995 Lawrence Grossman, former president of NBC
News and PBS The Electronic Republic
Reshaping Democracy in the Information Age
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So what is Electronic Democracy?

• On the theoretical side, there is a dichotomy
  between those that see e-democracy as a way to
  move towards direct democracy and those who see
  it as a tool to enhance representative democracy
• Excellent article by Steven Coleman of the Oxford
  Internet Institute on this issue

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Why is government interested in e-democracy?

• Concerns about citizen alienation from
  government.
• Desires to get a wider range of participation.

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The European Commission, Eurobarometer 57 Spring
2002
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Elements of E-Democracy

• Improve Government Transparency
• Facilitate Civic Participation/Consultation

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Transparency Index

• Countries that are otherwise perceived as the
  most transparent are also leaders in e-government
  and e-democracy

www.transparency.org
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Transparency

• BASIC
• Prevent corruption by posting bid requests
• MODERATE
• Show government in action
• ADVANCED
• Expose influences on decisions

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Anti-Corruption Bidding Processes

• This example is from the Philippines, but there
  are many others
• Assumed in countries with high transparency, but
  a big deal in those where corruption is prevalent

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Show Government in Action

• Most common form is web videostreaming
  legislative body deliberations

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Expose Influences

• CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORTING
• It is ugly but it serves the purpose.
• You can look up who contributed to each campaign.

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Analysis of Campaigns on Web
                                                
                                                  
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Mexico Public Officials Disclose Assets

• Mexican President Vincente Fox started the
  reform process towards greater transparency and
  government openness by submitting a public
  declaration of his assets using the e-government
  site Declaranet and urging all public
  functionaries to do the same.

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Expand Participation

• Provide means for people to express opinions
• Give them enough information so that they can
  participate effectively
• Enable true interaction

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Is e-mail an effective tool?
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E-Petitions

• Government sponsored e-petitions are not the same
  as e-mail chain letters

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Queensland Another example
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On-Line Consultation
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Using both TV and Internet
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Seattles Democracy Portal

• In 2001, the Mayor and City Council established a
  citizens commission.
• The Commissions recommendations form the basis
  for the Democracy Portal initiative.

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Democracy Portal Mission

• To inform and engage citizens in the
  governmental, civic, and cultural affairs of
  Seattle through compelling use of television,
  Internet, and other media.

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Seattle is the Right Place

• Known for our civic activism and open government
• High Internet (over 76 at home) and 55 of that
  is high speed access
• Award winning website (800K user sessions and 3
  million page views a month).
• Award winning TV channel
• Elected officials who really want to hear from
  citizens.

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Government TV

• In US, federal law enables local governments to
  require cable companies to provide them with
  channel capacity for free.
• Most cities and a few states have TV channels
• You can do it all without the TV channel

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Core is new Website

• www.seattlechannel.org
• Focused on
• Issues
• Interactivity
• Enhanced videostreaming

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Issues

• Site takes topics of interest and explores them
  as issues.
• City Inside/Out and City Stream TV programs
  explore issues weekly.

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Interactivity

• Polling is not scientific, but a way to involve
  users and gauge opinion.

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Live Stream of Seattle Channel

• Stream live TV channel signal
• Stream Council Live
• Pet Cam

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Video Archives

• City Council and other meetings
• Public affairs, arts, history and culture,
  lectures, features
• About 800 videos in the archive
• 17,000 videos played in the first quarter of 2004

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Indexing Meetings

• Create web links to meeting topics so user can go
  directly to subject.
• While operator is taping meeting, they write down
  time code at beginning of each agenda item
• Webmaster inserts timecodes and agenda
  information into a javascript file
• Homegrown application automatically pulls up our
  player and indexed text

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Enhanced Council Meetings

• Begin to take advantage of convergence of
  internet and TV
• Provide additional context for discussion on the
  TV screen
• Refer to documents on the website

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E-Democracy as Direct Democracy

• Government will naturally focus on ways to
  improve representative democracy
• NGOs have two roles
• Neutral intermediaries between citizens and
  government
• Organizing the voice of the people

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Electronically Enhanced Democracy in Canada

• local government may prove to be the cradle of
  electronically enhanced democracy in Canada",
  with online politics at the federal and
  provincial levels continuing to fall short of
  expectations as elected representatives face
  disincentives to participation.
• the non-profit sector offers the best avenue
  for creating and maintaining electronically
  enhanced democracy resources.

Canada West Foundation Report
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iCAN run by the BBC

• Find information and advice on hundreds of
  issues
• See what's going on in your area
• Get details of local people who can help you
  (like your MP or councillor.
• Read our guides to help you take action.
• Post a notice about something that concerns you.
• Write an article to share your experience.
• Start a campaign online

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Minnesota e-democracy
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MoveOn.Org
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Digital Divide

• Government can not be committed to electronic
  democracy without addressing the digital divide
• Seattle has several programs to make technology
  accessible to all
• Over 100 sites with free high speed internet
  access and training programs

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Technology Matching Fund

• Seattle makes small grants to NGOs to support
  technology literacy and access
• This year, one focus was on e-democracy projects

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Future

• Looking for ways to pair technology access sites
  with participatory events.
• New TV program and matching fund grants focused
  on immigrant and non-English speaking people.

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For more information

• joane.obrien_at_seattle.gov
• Videostreaming coordination
• gary.gibson_at_seattle.gov
• General Manager, Seattle Channel
• rona.zevin_at_seattle.gov