by Paul Johnston
London-based ex-civil servant now working for Cisco as head of the European public sector team within IBSG, Cisco's global strategic consulting arm. Launched and helped shape this site after wri... More about Paul Johnston
Creating a Transparent Policy Process
The attached 4-page document seeks to identify some of the key elements of an open policy-making process. Very interested in any reactions in particular suggested improvements!
Comments
Hi Paul,
interesting paper with a number of valuable points.
I had a number of comments on a word doc, but unfortunately unable to attach my document in the comment box here. My points were:
- not clear how the platform is to create incentives for citizens, especially expert-citizens to share their knowledge in the platform. A large part of this is the "review"; the reviewers must be rewarded for doing a good job. The section 2 reads that users are "able to" rate proposals - but needs to clarify if they are "willing to"
- having a hierarchical monitoring function of the input of the crowd on the platform can really limit the legitimacy of the platform; removing the motivation of empowerment.
- the text reads (3a) "A transparent dashboard is likely to be subject to attempted manipulation [...] for/against a particular proposal" I think the same applies to politics as we know it. So, why fear this more?
- In (6a) - transparent engagement; there is fear that there would be lack of participation, that may make the result "unrepresentative". There are relatively easy ways to get around this; for instance online delegation. If only 1-5% of the votes (of voluntary voters) represented everyone via pre-established delegation lines, allowing everyone to vote themselves whenever they wish to do so, would overcome this problem. There are quite a few groups, hence, working on online delegation (aka liquid democracy.
- Also in 6a - there is fear that experts may not participate. Well - this is precisely the target that the platform should have: while allowing everyone to participate, create the incentives for experts to do so in specific; by rewarding those that contribute the most. For this, measuring and recognizing (if not also financially awarding) contributors is necessary.
All and all, I cannot help but want to pitch the online governance model I have been working on. It involves idea markets and delegation voting. Especially, Paul, after seing your presentation at PDF last week (where you spoke about online management of budget proposals..), I am eager to get in contact with you to speak about this and consider opportunities.
Erdem
posted about 1 year ago
Many thanks, ErDem, for your great comments. Do get in touch and lets discuss how we might move this discussion forward or even test things in practice!
posted about 1 year ago