worldassembly@civicus.org
2. | New Book: "Open Source" Democracy?
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In the software industry, the open source movement emphasises
collective cooperation over private ownership: open
source enthusiasts have found a more efficient way of working by
pooling their knowledge to encourage innovation.
This is happening at a time when participation in
mainstream electoral politics is declining in many Western countries,
including the US and Britain.
What, asks Douglas Rushkoff in this original essay for Demos (UK), would happen if the 'source code' of our democratic systems was
opened up to the people they are meant to serve?
An open source
model for participatory, bottom-up and emergent policy will force us to confront the issues of our time,
he answers.
To learn more, or to order the book, visit demos.co.uk
3. | Mayor Anthony Williams to Convene 3rd "Citizens' Summit"
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On Saturday, November 1, 2003, District residents ages 13 and up will join Mayor Anthony A. Williams, elected officials, and community leaders from across the District of Columbia for Citizen Summit III. This year's summit, hosted by the Executive Office of Neighborhood Action, will be held at the new Washington Convention Center. The summit will give residents an opportunity to help shape the policies of the District government on healthcare, crime, education, housing, economic priorities, and neighborhood enhancements. The summit is designed and facilitated by DDC member AmericaSpeaks.
For more information about the summit, visit the Citizens Summit website.
4. | 'Secrets of Successful e-Participation and e-Consultation'
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On October 28, the folks at the eGovernment Bulletin will host 'Secrets of successful e-participation and e-consultation,' a day-long seminar that will cover online citizen debate and consultation. The event, help at Shakespeare's Globe Theater, will include the speakers Professor Stephen Coleman, Professor of e-Democracy, the Oxford Internet Institute; Tom Loosemore, BBCi; and Julie Howell, RNIB.
For more information, visit electronic-government.com.
5. | Public 'Net-work' and Deliberation: Deliberative, Democratic "Output"?
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The e-government consultant Steven Clift has released two articles on the concept of "public net-work." The author suggests that wh
ile forms of online deliberative democracy and e-democracy focus on the "input" side of governance, public net-work proposes that the same or similar technology can be applied on the output or implementation side of government. This potentially doubles the value of any resource investments made by governments (and other organizations operating in the public interest) in online applications and strategies.
Download the following articles:
E-Democracy, E-Governance, and Public Net-Work
Public Net-work: Online Information Exchange in the Pursuit of Public Service Goals(Word/RTF)
6. | BC Citizens' Assembly Pulling Together
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In August the government of British Columbia, Canada authorized the creation of a "Citizen's Assembly" to reform the electoral system of the province. Members of the 158-member panel--2 from each district, one man and one woman, identified at regional "selection meetings"--will recommend, in a binding decision, whether or not to reform the province's electoral system. The recommendations of the Assembly will be put before voters in May, 2005 and, if endorsed by citizens, a new system will be in place by the 2009 elections.
The Citizens Assembly expects to have all of its members identified by November 25, 2003. The Assembly will spend January, 2004 through June educating themselves around the issues and how people understand them. Assembly deliberations will take place Septemberthrough November 2004, and their report will be available to the public in December.
For more information about this unique and important exercise, visit citizensassembly.bc.ca.
7. | Consortium to Host Deliberation Researchers and Practitioners Conference
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On October 22nd through the 24th the Deliberative Democracy Consortium will host a conference that convenes leading scholars and practitioners in the merging field of deliberative democracy.
The conference has two main goals: 1) to identify the most crucial empirical research questions regarding the role of citizen deliberation in democratic governance, and 2) to foster partnerships between scholars and practitioners of deliberation that will facilitate research that answers these priority questions.
For more information, visit deliberative-democracy.net
8. | New York Law School to Host "State of Play"
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New York Law Schoo and the Information Society Project at New York Law School will host "The State of Play," November 13-15, 2003 in New York City. This interdisciplinary conference will examine the state of online gaming ("the state of play") play today in an effort to understand the phenomenon of digital games and the virtual worlds they create and to discuss the complex social, psychological, and legal issues to which they give rise.
While often underexplored in the context of public deliberation, games offer many benefits to deliberation, several of which will be touched upon in the conference, with the potential to spark new networks for collaboration.
For more information, please visit nyls.edu
8. | The People Speak: Americans Debate Our Role in the World
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"The People Speak: America Debates Its Role in the World" is a public education effort to stimulate a national dialogue about the future of U.S. foreign policy. The goal is to engage as many Americans as possible in debates across the United States during October, 2003. "The People Speak" seeks to host as many as 1,000 debates ac
ross the country.
For more information, visit jointhedebate.org.
9. | ethepeople.org Seeks Partners for "American Choices" Project
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American Choices is an interactive self-assessment that helps users understand today
s foreign policy debates. By taking a 12-question survey, users get a sophisticated but accessible analysis of their stand on foreign policy issues, and how it compares with that of others. To learn more, visit americanchoices.org
ethpeople invites you to consider using American Choices as one of the tools you use to educate discussion participants. Like a dialogue itself, (b>American Choices helps users see multiple sides to a debate and understand the competing values that underlie each issue. In so doing, American Choices helps people better understand what they believe in relation to what others believe. Consider adding this useful tool to the resources section on your Web site and blog or mentioning it in your next email newsletter.
10. | E-Government for All: A Virtual Conference
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E-Government for All will bring together leaders in government, the private sector, community activists, academia and civil society to discuss the relationship between e-government initiatives and the need for policy strategies to bridge the digital divide. While e-government presents us with powerful opportunities for making government more accessible and efficient, there are still millions of people lacking both Internet access and the skills to use it effectively. The conference, therefore, will explore what can be done to ensure that e-government initiatives lessen the digital divide rather than widen it.
This issue is central to online deliberation, and this e-conference may contribute new strategies for inclusive online deliberation. More information at egov4all.org
11. | New Resource: Consulting Citizens
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Consulting Citizens: Planning for Success, a new public involvement manual by the very active government of Western Australia, directs its focus towards those elements of planning that are essential to the creation of effective and meaningful consultations. In particular, it includes material to assist in minimising risk - both project risk and during the consultation process itself.
To read the full report, and others, visit ccu.dpc.wa.gov.au
