Consulting Bristol The Bristol Citizens Panel

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Local eDemocracy National Project. Key Findings
from Research Evaluation
2
Expert Evaluation Group

• Multi-disciplinary approach - technologist,
  political scientist and experimental psychologist
• Independent from Project

3
Top-Down Evaluation
Participation Consultation Information
Young Peoples Research
Citizens Research
Structure of Evaluation Research
Local Authority Research
Ground-Up Evaluation
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Multi-Method Research Evaluation

• Semi-structured interviews with stakeholders on
  key dimensions of the projects
• Observation and user-testing
• Field tests with members of the public, using
  computers in public libraries
• Online discussion and usage statistics from
  e-democracy tools and web servers
• Online questionnaires
• Review of project documentation

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What Works to achieve what?

• Technologists too often
• assume that government
• is just another machine to
• be fixed
•  
• Evaluation involves more than the question of
  what works, for that begs the more interesting
  question What works to achieve what?

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Two Key Questions to Emerge

• How can eDemocracy strengthen existing democratic
  relationships between members, officers and
  citizens?
• Can the conscious creation of online networks
  invigorate the democratic characteristics of
  local government?

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The Research Context

• In depth research with young people
• YouGov survey of citizens
• Mori research with Local Authorities

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Research with Young People

• Young People want the opportunity to speak up on
  issues which affect them (72) but
• Half (52) say they are not interested in
  politics
• Less than one in ten (9) feel their Local
  Council both "understands what young people need"
  and "listens to young people's views

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YouGov Research with Citizens

• Once familiar with the idea, the vast majority
  (79) feel e-Democracy is something that
  Governments should pursue
• But two-thirds of those defined as currently
  having low-level political interest do not want
  more involvement in local issues why?

10
e-Democracy is about Trust Confidence

• Building trust in online citizen-government
  relations is a key element of e-democracy

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MORI research with Local Authorities

• 55 of authorities plan to have written
  eDemocracy strategy in place by September 05
• There is a significant gap between what is
  available offline and what has been made
  available online space for quick wins
• Activity is top-down (council-led) rather than
  focused on developing community capacity
• Interesting positive association noted between
  investment in eDem and higher performance-rating
  in CPA!

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Setting the Evaluation Context- projects included

• Epetitions
• Online Citizens Panels
• Local Issues Forums
• Cross cutting issues and partnerships
• Website for fifty plus
• Work with BBC ICAN
• Webcasting
• Young peoples perceptions of various approaches
• Micro-Democracy

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Limited Time for Implementation - Scale of
Activity in First 2-3 Months

• Epetitions 19 petitions, 1200 signatures, 74
  discussion comments
• Issues Forums, 260 comments from 161 people
• Online Citizens Panel (Bristol), 735 users, 495
  comments
• Website for fifty plus, 1000 registered users, 90
  visits per week
• Work with BBC ICAN 10,000 registered users
  during first two years, 14 campaigns started in
  LA pilots

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Key Messages from Across all of these Approaches

• Keep it simple
• Join it up
• Be inclusive
• Actively Moderate
• Invest in online promotion and outreach
• Work with trusted intermediaries
• Develop networks social capital
• Take a leap - try something different

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Keep it Simple

• I think that people who are very used to the
  technology and working or communicating using
  technology actually dont realise that something
  that seems easy to them is actually quite
  difficult to other people
• If youre trying to target an audience who
  hasnt used the internet a lot, you need to get a
  pair of special goggles on to take you back
  several years and say - well, whats a thread?
• I think that the simpler it is the more people
  will get involved

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Join it Up

• The best uses of ICT are when they converge with
  offline environments. The Surrey 50 website is a
  good example of an online innovation developed to
  support and expand an existing offline network
• It is not just a website, but it is TV and radio
  and online all working together BBC outreach
  worker
• Integrating e-democracy into the structures and
  processes of policy formation and decision-making
  is vital if it is not to be dismissed as just
  another political gimmick

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Be Inclusive by

• Respecting anonymity - As I said, if I go on as
  Mohammed Hasim, the fact that Im Asian, people
  will automatically ascribe a set of values and
  beliefs to me which will colour how they view or
  read what I said
• Understanding social geography - Thought should
  be given to the democratic rights of citizens who
  spend most of their lives working in an area, but
  do not live in it
• Supporting and Enabling It takes a lot of
  courage to speak at a meeting and its much
  easier to write a note. So actually giving
  people the confidence to participate would be one
  good outcome
• Proactive recruitment - Is it possible to set up
  a group that is demographically representative?
  So far, recruitment suggests that the membership
  is balanced, but whether or not they become
  active or not is another question

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Actively Moderate

• To perform this role well, representatives will
  need to develop techniques that enable people to
  speak for themselves, listen to others and
  recognise the priorities and trade-offs that have
  long characterised political life
• If the forum became a place of spats and bad
  temper then the elected representatives and fund
  holders will happily ignore it

19
Promote Online through Outreach

• The vast majority of current participants heard
  about the Local Issues Forum from another email
  list or forum, friends or professional contacts
• (76) said they had heard about Ask Bristol
  through online promotion methods, with most of
  the rest accounted for by word of mouth, and
  street interviews
• as much effort needs to go into outreach as into
  the day-to-day running of projects. E-democracy
  for the chattering classes only would not be
  e-democracy at all

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Make use of Trusted Intermediaries

• Citizens want government to be close enough to
  hear them, but far enough away to let them speak
  amongst themselves
• The presence of the BBC allowed citizens and
  community groups to engage with one another at
  arms length from the authority and regulation of
  local government

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Develop Networks think Social Capital

• All of the projects examined in this report have
  addressed, how can people develop communicative
  relationships with one another, as well as with
  the institutions that represent them locally.
• Cultivate civic networkers at the centre of
  most e-democracy projects one usually finds a
  small group of active enthusiasts people who
  seem to be always present at the internet
  centres, ever ready to help someone else to use
  computers in a new way and never unwilling to put
  themselves out for the sake of their community

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Leadership by taking a Leap of Faith

• We are prepared to take the risks involved in
  that, but it is difficult and it is risky and it
  is uncomfortable being challenged and taken to
  task and it can be quite painful at times
  councils need to be aware of support mechanisms
  for councillors
• direct representation, whereby representatives
  still represent the public, but the public has a
  much closer and more ongoing communicative
  relationship with them
• Thats what its all about its giving power to
  the people. Thats what this is all about making
  sure that people give themselves help to find
  solutions to their own problems

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SUGGESTED AIMS e-Democracy Projects

•   Devolve more power and responsibility to local
  citizens and communities
• Show that councils are listening to and
  representing people
• Encourage more deliberative discussion, where
  people learn to listen and tolerate one another
• More effectively reach the least engaged citizens
  and communities

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But Dont Over-Promise!

• iCAN restores my faith in humanity. It just
  makes me realise that there are some fantastic
  people all around the country who really believe
  in helping other people, working with other
  people and who are really passionate and
  committed to what they do
• iCAN Worker
• I suppose it is better that it is there than
  not
• Citizen

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Research Evaluation Outputs

• What Works, literature review (available now)
• Baseline survey of Councils (available now)
• eMethods Guide and Context Report (June)
• Evaluation of council-led top-down approaches
  (June)
• Evaluation of community focussed ground-up
  approaches (June)
• Evaluation of Young Peoples Perceptions of
  eDemocracy (June)
• Comparative study of changes in citizens
  perceptions
• (June)
• eDemocracy video visual Exec Summary
• (June)