Bowling Together

Online Public Engagement
in Policy Deliberation

Stephen Coleman & John Gøtze

> About the report

> Introduction

> Representation, Engagement and Democracy

> Two-Way Governance

> Connected Citizenship

> Appropriate Technologies For Online Engagement

Global Case Studies

> References

> PDF (2.5MB!)

Chapter Five

Global Case Studies

Anyone studying the experience so far of online public engagement in policy-making will come up against three unavoidable truths:

There are very few examples in any country of the internet being used to involve citizens in policy deliberation.
Where examples can be found, they are of an experimental nature; online public participation is still in its infancy.
Almost all of the cases one finds are frustrated by the same two problems:
1. too few people know about them;
2. governments fail to integrate them into the policy process or respond to them effectively;

We present the following case accounts not necessarily as examples of best practice, nor to dwell upon their limitations. All of them are innovative and pioneering efforts to use digital technology to invigorate the democratic process. Ten years from now much of what is reported here will seem terribly primitive and obsolete, but unless we learn from what has been done in the early stages of e-engagement there is little reason to be sanguine about the future. Models of public service do not evolve spontaneously.

Italy

Iperbole is an online civic network in Bologna. It was set up by the Bologna municipality in January 1995 in order to provide a link between citizens and the municipality, and as 'a laboratory for the collective intelligence'. The project aims to widen the use of ICTs, supply information and interactive services to the citizens of Bologna and create a dialogue between citizens and public administrators.

Local citizens benefit from a network of internet public places, free internet access points, e-mail and newsgroups. There is direct and remote internet training for beginners; online healthcare support; online services for senior, disabled people and young people; and a 'time bank' through which local people can exchange services.

There is an online discussion forum; publication of local documents (with abstracts and glossaries) and customer satisfaction surveys. Iperbole is also participating in two European research projects:

Demos aims to develop a new participative methodology based upon sociological conflict resolution which will help involve large numbers of citizens in the discussion of European, as well as local/regional political topics.
Eden aims to support public participation in online urban planning consultations, through the development of Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools based on user requirements.

Further information: http://www.comune.bologna.it

United Kingdom

Since 1998 the Hansard Society's e-democracy programme has been running a series of pilot online consultations for the UK Parliament. The purpose of these e-consultations has been to enable groups of citizens with relevant experience and expertise to inform and advise legislators on specific areas of policy.

Online evidence has been collected from survivors of domestic violence, for the All-party Domestic Violence Group; recipients of tax credits, for the House of Commons Social Security select committee; experts on stem cell research, for the House of Lords committee recommending legislation on that subject; and MPs, parliamentary staff and the public discussing Parliament's use of ICTs, for the Information select committee.

The online consultations have usually been set up in partnership with organisations specialising in the policy area who help recruit relevant participants - so, the Hansard Society e-democracy programme's main role is to make the deliberative process work. Participants engage in discussion for one month, both about policy and their own experiences. At the end, a summary is produced by the Hansard Society and submitted as evidence to Parliament.

Parliamentarians have liked the experience of receiving evidence from citizens who are directly affected by policy decisions. Archy Kirkwood MP, the chair of the Social Security select committee, stated that:

I think it's an experiment that has been a success and I think if it were to be rolled out on a more widespread basis it would enhance the work of Parliament.

Evidence received in this way reflects experience and expertise that would usually be overlooked when evidence is taken only from known experts and respected interest groups. The Hansard Society e-democracy programme conducts extensive research to find out how participants feel about the process. Most are pleased to have taken part, not only because they were connected to politicians, but also because they benefited from citizen-to-citizen discussion and community building. The women in the domestic violence consultation set up their own community web site after the official e-consultation ended.

For more information: www.democracyforum.org.uk; www.publicevidence.net;

www.hansardsociety.org.uk/eDemocracy.htm

Estonia

The Estonian TOM web site - an abbreviation of Tana Otsustan Mina which means Today I Decide - was launched by the Estonian Government press office in June 2001. Its objective is to enhance citizens' participation in the policy-making process by allowing them both to comment on draft laws and submit their own ideas for new laws. To participate in TOM, citizens have to register their names and e-mail addresses; in due course it is hoped that registration will be based upon digital signatures.

Proposals for legislation can be submitted by citizens - after which there is a two-week period for the proposal to be discussed by the public and a three-day period for the author to revise the proposal. There then follows a three-day period for public voting on the proposal. Proposals that receive less than 51% of the online vote are dropped, but if over half of the online voters support a proposal, it is forwarded to the appropriate government department and considered, with follow-ups from them posted on TOM.

There are currently 2,700 registered users of TOM and the site has received 190,000 hits per month. So far, there have been nine laws proposed which have been taken forward by government departments.

For more information: http://tom.riik.ee/

Finland

In the city of Tampere, Finland, Jari Seppala, the information officer in the local government city planning department, invented and created an experimental interactive web-based city planning game. It enables inhabitants of an area, as well as citizens outside the immediate vicinity, to play a significant role when the local council is considering planning schemes.

The main aim of this initiative is to guide the city planners as to the wishes of the people. Seppala says:

It's a real situation and we have done it in two areas, two suburbs where the city is intending to make master plans - changes - to certain areas... In a way this planning was part of the normal and legal real planning of the process and this game was part of it. Of course it gave only one piece of information and material for the official and legal process but it was part of the real situation.

The idea of the city planning game provides a window whereby the public can view possible alternatives to the proposed plans. They can choose their favourite possibilities and see how the area and the landscape could feasibly change according to their will over a two-month period.

15,000-20,000 citizens live in the two urban areas where this has been implemented. The web site received about 4,000 hits and approximately 800 messages were posted. There were incentives offered - small prizes delivered to the home - chosen by random selection from those users who left a posting.

Only 5% of local inhabitants played the game. The question that lingers unanswered is why only 20% of those who went online completed the game and left a message. There are three possible reasons that could be put forward for such a wide gap between the 4,000 citizens of Tampere who visited the site and the comparatively small number of 800 who finished the game and posted a message:

People felt no need to send a response
It was simply played as a computer game and those participating had no interest in its real process as a means to an end
It was too time-consuming to complete

Seppala hopes that a similar interactive project in the future will involve citizens' input at an earlier stage, thus enabling their contributions to inform the process of planning questions for such a game or consultation. The aim here is to ensure the prevention of a similar discrepancy in the percentage of users who do and those who do not complete the task occurring again.

The citizens who took part in the game had only to commit their time to the cause once and the library-provided internet access points meant that there was no need for people to pay the usual phone-tariff or a connection fee. This would not pose a problem in Tampere as 65% of the adult population have internet access at work, 46% have access from home and 81% have both.

Tampere's city planning game was an all-inclusive initiative because internet access was provided at key local social venues where anyone could go online and play. A paper version of the questionnaire was also available, although anyone who used this means would not have experienced the same amount of interaction. Advertising for the consultation could be seen on the city web site, in newspapers and in libraries - where help could be given to users unfamiliar with the web - and on the radio. Results of this particular consultation are published on the web site and press releases keep local people informed of the decisions and progress made concerning the planning schemes.

For more information: http://www.tampere.fi;

http://www.tampere.fi/tiedotus/viinikka/frames.htm;

http://www.tampere.fi/tiedotus/tohloppi/;

http://www.tampere.fi/viy/tyontekijat/jari/gradu.pdf

Germany

The city of Esslingen, which has 50-60,000 residents, had plans for new housing areas which would affect 5,000 people who lived around the proposed site and, more specifically, 2-300 people in the immediate vicinity. Due to the discontent that had been triggered among residents, a citizens' consultation was started in May 2000. This had been active for a year when the internet-based study was started by researchers, Hans Hagedorn and Matthias Trenel, based upon web-based interactive discussion of environmental and planning issues facing the people of Esslingen.

The government sponsored project medi@komm, provided a virtual platform for the case study - based on the mediation system zeno - which was implemented on the internet in May 2001. Two purposes were served:

Information was provided about the planning object in question for anyone who wished to access the information.
A discussion forum allowed citizens to express their opinions interactively over a period of one month.

Among the researchers were professional facilitators, who not only supervised the fairness of the discussion, but also encouraged constructive dialogue between citizens, planning staff and local politicians in order to identify common ground where possible. Anyone was permitted to join and 26 people posted 120 messages. There were 4,000 hits and it is estimated that 80-100 passive users also existed online to read the contributions.

Esslingen has a largely commuter-based population living within a village-like atmosphere. Collective emotions can run high when plans are submitted for changes to the town. Such facts made it feasible to expect a large proportion of the publicity for the web discussion to be by word of mouth coupled with a lot of everyday face-to-face interaction and discussion of the subject 'on the street'. Hagedorn, Trénel and Märker began their advertising by handing out leaflets at one of the joint citizens' initiative and local council meetings. They also placed adverts in the local newspaper and gave a presentation of their work to gain wider acknowledgement.

The outcome of the forum was discussed among politicians and influenced the debate in the local media. The researchers have suggested that, in this respect, the case study of Esslingen represents a substantial step forward towards e-government, since most internet-based participatory processes so far either lacked sufficient actual participation by citizens or did not manage to attract enough attention among decision-makers or in the public domain. In Germany, the case of Esslingen has therefore become a well-known example of citizen participation via the internet. Consequently, considerable attention was given by both the local politicians and the local media. However, throughout the whole project the researchers maintained a healthy awareness that the decision to go ahead with the planning project had never been in any doubt by the local politicians. Many participants doubted the authenticity of the consultation project from the outset due to the fact that the real outcome is so severely embedded in the political process.

For more information: See the presentation of the Esslingen case on the 'Conference for cooperative planning and mediation' in Berlin, June 27-29, 2001.

http://www.mediakomm.net; http://zeno.gmd.de

Sweden

In 2000, the city of Kalix in northern Sweden invited local residents to participate in an online policy exercise designed to plan the renovation of the city centre. The policy forum enabled citizens to discuss the issues with politicians and with one other; there was also a structured survey in which participants could vote for their planning preferences. Citizens were able to participate by post, fax and telephone, but 86% of participants chose to use the internet. 1,200 of the city's 15,000 inhabitants participated in the discussion and 72% of them reported that they found the experience democratically useful. Participants were registered and issued with a password, so as to ensure that only those entitled to vote could do so and that they only voted once. Internet access was made available for local people via schools and libraries, so that nobody was excluded because of the digital divide.

For information: See http://www.votia.com

Australia

In June 2000, the Australian Prime Minister and Minister of Defence launched a review of defence policy ahead of the publication of a White Paper (policy paper). As part of this review, a discussion paper, entitled Defence Review 2000 - Our Future Defence Force, was released for public consultation.

A consultation page was established on the Department of Defence web site, which included an electronic consultation kit including a copy of the discussion paper, a summary of the paper for easy access to key points, an electronic response form posing questions on the key points in the discussion paper, and a schedule of public meetings. The consultation lasted for nine weeks, during which time over 2,000 people attended 28 community meetings and over 1,150 written submissions were received - approximately half by e-mail. The White Paper secretariat received 5,316 e-mail messages and the discussion paper was downloaded from the web site 6,453 times.

For information: See http://www.defence.gov.au/consultation2/index.htm

Netherlands

In his role as the Minister for Inner City Problems and Integration of Minorities, and the member of the Dutch Government whose task it is to think about democracy, Minister Van Boxtel worked closely with the IPP (Institute for the Public and Politics) to create an inclusive and interactive online consultation.

For six months from October 1999, Minister Van Boxtel participated in a series of live chats and web discussions. The live chat was with the Minister, a senior broadcaster, a moderator, and a typist. The moderator, Dr Steven Lenos of the IPP, was the medium through which the participants communicated with the Minister during the web discussions. Lenos provided selected questions for the Minister's attention to which he replied. The moderation meant that the Minister only saw those questions that Lenos deemed relevant during the web discussions. However, the live chat sessions were set on an unmediated platform in which remarks, jokes and questions were all shown to him.

The web discussions had four categories of participant: the moderator, the politician, individual citizens and civil servants. The civil servants were participating as representatives of the government - which was unique, according to Lenos, because in Dutch politics the Minister is always responsible and it is he who communicates with the public. In these discussions, civil servants were mandated to participate as experts on a topic, thus bringing them out into the open.

Lenos estimates that approximately 50 people participated in the three debates that ran consecutively each month and there were about 200 messages. On the live chat there were twice the number of questions that the Minister could cope with; 40-60 questions could be tackled in an hour. He is aware that some people do not play a participatory role, just taking an interest in the initiative and the points raised. The users gave a name on entry but anonymity was possible.

A resumé was put on the site each week to enable people who had joined in the middle of a debate to be aware of the issue at hand. It also provided a general idea of the arguments and comments already raised.

Advertising for the project was done in three ways:

A press release through the traditional media, including national radio and television and some magazines; due to the novelty of a Minister taking part in a live chat there was quite a large amount of coverage prior to and during the six months it was active.
Online publicity whereby advertisements were sent to government web site, 'e-zine', and e-mail newsletter editors.
Advertising on e-mail lists.

Minister Van Boxtel gave an exclusive interview with one of the national newspapers and mentioned the live web discussion and provided the web address.

The University of Amsterdam is doing an evaluation of the project, part of which involves research into why people did not go back online after one experience. The university's evaluation will be combined with those being completed by the IPP and the Ministry. In all, there are 15 recommendations, including that the web site should be continued, used as an innovative example to other ministries, bridging the gap between citizens and government

For more information: http:www.publiek-politiek.nl/English;

http://www.ministervanboxtel.nl

Canada

Energy Technology Futures (ETF) was created primarily as a research project to look at greenhouse gas emissions and economic growth in the future. Many different technologies were examined to establish their potential and limitations in this field. Kevin Cliffe, the director of the project and Paul Khanna, the science and planning analyst who co-ordinated and moderated the virtual conference, used scenario-based methods, and held focus groups and workshops to gather research material. The participants in these meetings were from government, private sector research organisations and NGOs - often experts in a related subject ( for example, a representative of Environment Canada).

There were a variety of discussions within the face-to-face meetings and at the virtual conference. These were broken down to include education, technology, fossil fuels and materials. Although the 'real' meetings were exclusive, anyone could register to join the 'chat'. The material that was covered in the face-to-face meetings was posted on the web site and the virtual conferences were subsequently set up in order for people from all over the world to register and look at the information that had been gathered and provide their comments.

The web site had 8,000 hits, 3,000 more than anticipated. It is thought that 5-6,000 of these were unique. About 235 people registered for the virtual conference and a further 800 were involved with the workshops and focus groups, contributing to the site. Khanna suggests that 15% of those with an initial interest went on to register and become more involved. Although anyone was able to register, the comments posted were moderated: they went to a restricted area where Khanna approved them before they were posted. The worry was that a message might be unsavoury but all messages were published on the site. The moderation was carried out every few days, which means that although interaction and comment were active, they were not live.

The aim of the web site was to broaden the debate and awareness from beyond the workshop participants to anyone who was able to find the links. Subsequently it is the intention to use the views of the wider audience to influence policy decision which will be used in ETF's strategic planning processes in the future.

The most accessible means by which the site could be entered was through the ETF web site, the main portal for communication, which contains a lot of other information as well as the link and registration to the virtual conference. Khanna and Cliffe distributed their web address to all the search engines so that anyone in the world working on energy futures or energy technology would come in contact with the link. This makes sense as it is estimated that 95% of users were already online. A Climate Change Secretariat web site was also set up which involved players from ETF, environment Canada, Industry Canada, Department of Finance, Department of International Trade and Foreign Affairs and the Privy Council Office; the hotlinks here meant users could directly access any of the aforementioned central government departments as well.

Although selective, another way people found out about the conference was through business cards handed out at the workshops and focus groups. However, the subject matter prescribes that users were most likely to make contact only if they had a work-related or personal interest in climate change. Many of the users found out about the conference by word of mouth.

If people had comments but could not post their message up personally they could make contact with Khanna who could perform the task for them. There was no obligation to join the discussion more than once although most people did in order to see either a response to their own message or the direction or outcome of the debate.

As an international exercise, the success is evident by the fact that the participants were mainly from Canada but also the US, the UK and to a lesser extent mainland Europe, Asia and Africa. There was a large proportion of students who participated and although the specific consultation is no longer officially functioning - it ran for 18 months - people from the Philippines and Africa continue to show an interest.

Cliffe considers that there was educative value for both the project organisers and the participants:

We were able to get expert comments and the participants would not only see what was going on within their particular sector of expertise but were also able to browse other areas relating to energy technologies and were able to get a bit more of a holistic view of the entire issue.

Participants received a final brochure, increasing their understanding of the policy issues under consideration during the consultation. They were also invited to give feedback, for which four workshops were set up - two in Canada and two in Europe. One was in London and it served for information exchange in order to establish some synergies, improved collaboration and consultation across continents.

As a result of the virtual conference, the profile of the subject matter as shown by ETF has been raised. The research that the department undertook is now on federal government web sites and it seems they have contributed to an agenda for best practice virtual consultations within government in Canada. Cliffe says that the most important thing to remember when doing an online consultation is to keep it 'simple, simple, simple!'

For more information: http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/es/etf/

Scotland

An online consultation was carried out by the International Teledemocracy Centre (ITC) at Napier University in Edinburgh, Scotland. The education division of the Scottish Executive commissioned the research to consult young people living in Scotland - particularly 11-18 year-olds. They wanted to know how to shape their policy on issues that would affect this age group. It was not a traditional consultation: there was no consultation document, but rather a number of issues on which the Executive required comment.

Young people are difficult to reach. The ITC publicised the project in schools - 20 of which they approached directly - and registered youth centres and voluntary groups in the community education sector. Adverts were placed in the Younger Scot, and the Daily Record, and banner ads were placed on trouble.co.uk and neighbours.com.

This six-week project provided a means by which the young people who took part had direct influence on the agenda for the Scottish Youth Summit 2000. This was due to the Executive deciding on issues to be addressed only after they had asked the target group what they would like to debate. The consultation provided unique opportunities for young people in three key ways:

They were able to participate and contribute to their democracy, fulfilling a sense of achievement and hopefully encouraging a further interest in politics;
The electronic means by which the target group took part is likely to have increased their own knowledge, especially if they were not in the habit of using the internet prior to the consultation.
Cyber networks and friendships were formed to enable young people from all over Scotland to make contact with each other, increasing interactivity and decreasing ignorance that may exist between different types of communities.

As a confidence-building exercise, an online consultation can be more significant for young people than any other social group. Due to the anonymity of web-based discussions, participants need not feel intimidated in any way about their writing skills or their opinions being viewed in a bad light. It could be seen from the responses that some participants had a low literacy level, but that had not been a bar to access. The creation of the consultation had particularly taken into consideration those users who were partially sighted.

587 comments were received, 279 of which were from participants who went on to vote on the different issues presented to them. 600 people visited the site. That number is based on 760 home page impressions.

Although the aim was that the users would join the debate more than once to discuss the issues and vote on a variety of subjects, it became apparent that due to lack of ease of access, many people only made one appearance, voting at the same time. Alongside this issue, there are three practical factors that the ITC would want to address in a future consultation among a total of eight recommendations:

The dates, 2 May - 12 June, coincided with an examination period in Scotland so there was less interest than there would have been at any other time of year;
The online and offline publicity needed to be more specifically aimed at young people;
The look and feel of the web site needed to be more attractive to young people.

The consultation was followed up with a one-day 'real space' conference, with 10 workshops, each addressing one of the issues that had been discussed online. Ministers were present and there was opportunity for both them and the young people to join the debate and air their views.

For more information: www.e-consultant.org.co;

http://www.teledemocracy.org/ourwork/our-work-projects.htm#consultations;

http://www.teledemocracy.org

France

Source d'Europe is a joint initiative between the French government and the European Union in the form of five interactive forums in five different web sites. The initiative offers an online platform for the discussion of European policy issues. Key points are:

A summary of proposals and trends that have been discussed over the previous seven days are published on the site each week. This is to enable users to gain a speedy understanding of the topic before they contribute to the discussion.
The public who take part in the five debates do so in the knowledge that their opinion on an issue will count - they are given a ministerial guarantee that their comments will be carefully examined by the Source d'Europe steering group. People with experience and knowledge in a specific EU related subject will put time and effort into any comment or suggestion they might provide, knowing that it is being taken seriously. This encourages an exchange of information which grants the site and the participants educative value, as well as giving the steering group succinct arguments on which to put forward any policy agenda that might come about as a result of the online discussion.
It is apparent that the same small group of participants come back again and again. Although contributions from all citizens are encouraged, there is a danger of participants dominating debate by a consistent presence or by giving an aggressive response to the comments of others. Consequently, this can result in discouraging others who would like to contribute but feel it is not worthwhile.
As a platform for discussion on topics that touch the lives of so many, it is inevitable that some participants use the forum to vent their anger. For this reason, all the debates are moderated; insulting or personal comments aimed at individuals are not displayed.
Citizens could learn about the five web sites through postcards which were distributed by every préfecture in every region in France, by the town halls of all the arrondissement in Paris, by the Office of the European Commission in Paris and by a number of NGOs involved in European Affairs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also carried out a press campaign. However, Morgane Lesage, who works on one of the forums, states that in a future consultation of this sort there should be better advertising in order to target a broader spectrum of people.
Lesage indicates that some participants have formed cyber-communities and join the web sites to discuss issues almost everyday. She sees this as very positive and says there is usually an exchange of very different views, encouraging tolerance and acceptance of people who hold varying beliefs.

As the consultations have not been completed yet, it is impossible to identify ways in which the consultation has had influence or an impact upon policy decision. However, Lesage has said that the results of Sources d'Europe will be used in an official state document. Due to the high profile connections this project has in France and the EU as well as its controversial subject matter, it seems that this is a space to be watched.

For more information: www.info-europe.fr/debat

Denmark

In 2000 the County of North Jutland launched the Digital Administration programme, within which was the Democracy Project. The task of the Democracy Project was to create an electronic forum for e-democratic dialogue among citizens and politicians, with a particular aim towards November 20, 2001: County Council Election Day (which later turned out also to be General Election Day).

In 1997, North Jutland experienced the lowest voter turnout in the Danish election. The object of the Democracy Project was to make visible the decisions made on a regional political level, and to involve the citizens in the process of democracy. Specifically, the County Council also wanted to reach first-time voters, who were known to show a low turnout.

Citizens, politicians and first-time voters were invited to take part in the project. The result was a very lively and well-visited web site with a good dialogue among citizens and politicians.

The guidelines for the design of the project were created in focus group meetings with 'adult' citizens, politicians and first-time voters. Here, the groups were asked to define their requirements for a web site representing democracy in North Jutland. The essential conclusions reached in these sessions were that the dialogue between citizens and politicians should be a central element of the web site. The citizens wanted 'to get to know the politicians' and to be involved in political planning at an early stage of the process.

It was agreed that this was not intended as a place for municipal or county officers to provide answers to citizens' problems; rather it should accommodate an open debate between citizens and the politicians.

The web site was designed in close cooperation between the project group of the County of North Jutland and KMD, a large Danish IT consultant, KMD also contributed to producing the user survey and in defining the design of the web site.

The web site www.nordpol.dk was structured with a forum for debates as the central element.

In addition, the site included:

A presentation of candidates and lists (produced by the politicians personally)
A chat room (enabling young people to chat with youth politicians and front-runners)
A calendar of political arrangements and dates of relevance to the elections.
News sites, where the daily news was available from the regional broadcasting station.
A quiz with prizes to win
An info page with information on the elections and the public sector.
A search function.

The design was based on a wish to create a sympathetic, inviting and friendly image, which would not put off young people at the first click.

During the project period of 10 September to 20 November, www.nordpol.dk had 23,000 visitors and 440 contributions to the debate. The total traffic was shared between the debate, the chat and visits to the politicians' profiles.

The reason for www.nordpol.dk being so well visited and used to such a degree is partly to be found in the extensive involvement of users, in particular the candidates for the county council who received comprehensive and repeated information about the project, and partly in the profiling potentials of participating and providing information.

For more information: www.nordpol.dk

Bowling Together: Online Public Engagement in Policy Deliberation by Stephen Coleman & John Gøtze
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