Title: New media and Democracy
1New media and Democracy
- Does the Internet make any real difference to
democracy? - GrahamYoung Executive Director National Forum
- 3rd June, 2005
2Who am I?
- http//graham.nationalforum.com.au/
3What motivates me ?
4And
5What is Democracy?
- government of the people, by the people, and
for the people Abraham Lincoln Speech, 19 Nov
1863, dedicating the national cemetery on the
site of the Battle of Gettesburg - Democracy means government by discussion but it
is only effective if you can stop people
talking. - Clement Attlee Anatomy of Britain
(Anthony Sampson), ?1960 - democracy is the worst form of Government
except all those other forms that have been tried
from time to time. Winston Churchill Speech,
Hansard 11 November (1947), col. 206
6System of Government where decisions are made on
the basis of a vote of all those belonging to
that unit.
- It involves
- A problem or need
- Discussion/Debate
- Resolution of the discussion into a proposition
or series of propositions - Determination of a majority position on the
proposition - Consent of the governed
- Action
7The actors are
- Legislators
- Individuals
- Community
- Media
- Courts
- Police and other enforcement agencies
8What is e-Democracy? How is it different?
- The medium is the message. This is merely to say
that the personal and social consequences of any
medium...result from the new scale that is
introduced into our affairs by each extension of
ourselves or by any new technology.McLuhan,
Marshall Understanding Media, Ch. 1 - Backing into the future Graham Meikle Future
Active Media Activism and the Internet
9Democratic market 50 years ago
- Homogenous/ Mass Market
- Loyal/Tribal
- Hierarchical
- Relatively Passive
- Not mobile
- Community defined by geography
- Decentralised and small scale
10Democratic market now
- Differentiated/Niche Markets
- Volatile
- Flat
- Demanding
- Mobile
- Community defined by interest
- Large scale
11Technologies that have effectedthe political
market
12What is e-Democracy again?
- The use of Internet-based technologies in the
democratic process as a means of communication,
discussion, organisation, influence, or decision
making. - It is NOT e-Government which is the
implementation of government administration via
the use of Internet-based technologies.
13Paradigms of e-Democracy
- Direct or plebiscitary democracy
- Online Communities
- Government use of online techniques as a means of
gauging public opinion - Online public engagement in policy deliberation
- e-Activism
- Electronic News Services
- (Points 1-4 from Bowling TogetherOnline Public
Engagement in Policy Deliberations Hansard
Society http//www.hansardsociety.org.uk/)
14How is internet likely to change politics?
- Increase market differentiation
- Make electors more volatile
- Further flatten hierarchies
- More demanding
- Increase numbers of communities of interest
- Scale will be less relevant
15What are the advantages of e-Democracy?
- Cheap to produce, publish and distribute material
- Interactive vertically and horizontally
- Low barriers to entry and involvement
- Ability to target market
- Lessens effect of geographical, sexual, physical
and other disadvantage - Able to be quickly responsive to events
16What are the disadvantages of e-Democracy?
- Clutter too many sites
- Lack of authority
- Anarchic
- Difficult to find and classify participants
- Difficult to talk to the uncommitted
- Digital Divide
- Security and privacy of information
17How are governments meeting the challenge?
- Victorian Electronic Democracy Inquiry
- NSW Community Builders
- Queensland Government e-Petitions
- Senate will accept electronic petitions
- Webcasting of federal parliament, hansard online
- US Environmental Protection Agency - community
consultation with 1066 participants - English Parliament - bills up for scrutiny and
comment - Government Online Directory (GOLD)
18Democracy OnlineEPA Project
- Large number of people participated, creating
complex communication dynamics. (This involved
1,166 people from all over the country. 40 to 60
3.43 to 5.16 posting each day). - Participants were highly satisfied with the
process. (70 rated as positive while only 9
rated as very or somewhat negative). - The process increased the number of voices heard,
but the voices were not necessarily new.
19Democracy Online cont...
- Communication was good, but many found it
difficult to participate. - Participants learned much, networked a little,
and felt they would have some influence on EPA
policy and practice. - EPA accomplished its goal of garnering broader
input about what it does right and wrong. It
also opened up new lines of communication with
the public, encouraged a few more formal comments
on the Public Involvement Policy, and generated
some public good will.
20Features of government efforts
- Tend to be only interactive to the stage of
consultation (Jensen). Not much conversational
interactivity, or intercreativity (Berners-Lee
via Meikle) - Experimental
- Tentative
- Not user-focussed
- Project based, not on-going
21How are Australian politicians meeting the
challenge?
- Email (70 according to Chen)
- Online consultation (64 according to Chen)
- 40 support online voting and 30 opposed (Chen)
- Political parties rate the Internet as equal or
best medium for getting their message out (Gibson
and Ward) - Mostly static information (Gibson and Ward)
- Amount of interactivity low. Prefer one-way
communication (Gibson and Ward)
22But
- Helen Razer (ABC Presenter) couldnt get one
party, apart from the Greens, to respond to her
offer of assistance during the last federal
election - Liberal Party didnt maintain its mailing list
from its site properly - Only online consultation ALP did for Hawke/Wran
Review was on a Labor 21(Carmen Lawrence site
apparently now defunct) and On Line Opinion - Prime Minister only responds to email via snail
mail
23How are interest groups meeting the challenge?
- e-Activism
- Email (S 11, WEF, MAI)
- Websites (www.cis.org.au, http//www.hizbollah.org
/english/frames/index_eg.htm) - Portals (http//www.oneworld.net/)
24But...
- Generally lack interactivity beyond the
registrational (Jensen) - Lack of Promotion /Visibility
- Strategic expertise lacking
25What are other groups doing?
- Minnesota e-Democracies (http//www.e-democracy.or
g/) - Indymedia sites (http//indymedia.org/)
- www.onlineopinion.com.au/domain
- www.onlineopinion.com.au
- BBC iCAN
- e-Parliament
26Meeting in the middle
Community
- A problem or need
- Discussion/Debate
- Resolution of the discussion into a proposition
or series of propositions - Determination of a majority position on the
proposition - Consent of the governed
- Action
Government
27What sort of public sphere
- Jed Miller Toward an Interactive Democracy
- If citizens have become more engaged online, but
remain isolated in narrow beakers of single
issues and circumscribed activities, then the
challenge for revitalising the public sphere is
to create cauldrons big enough to support
deliberative activity on a large scale, building
on the power of compelling context, urgent
popular narratives and grassroots outreach to
gather strangers, foster trust and describe
prospective outcomes that motivate participation.
28National ForumWhat is it?
- Town Hall
- Public Open Space
- Shopping Centre/Market of Ideas
- Producers coop
- Project to combine discussion and action
29National ForumWhat are its benefits?
- Combines discussion and action
- Community Owned - public, advocacy groups,
research/policy groups, politicians and
governments. - Information rich context - peripheral vision
- Order e-Democracy clutter
- Give individuals and sites profile
30Closing the loop
- From chat to action
- Submission to Victorian eDemocracy Inquiry
- Background paper on petition sites
- http//onlineopinion.com.au/petitions
31Conclusion
- Time required before new technology substantially
impacts on democracy - Radio - 40 years
- TV - 20 years
- Internet - ?
- How?
- The medium really is the message
- Reinventing the Past