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Networking Democracy - Building Online Participation into a National Citizens Summit

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Building Online Participation into a National Citizens Summit

Suw Charman

This is one of the four pieces which initiated this discussion group.

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I was asked to be one of four people identifying topics and themes which will be important to consider when constructing any online engagement process to complement a national citizens summit. I have divided them into three broad themes:

Facilitating online conversation – what tools do we need?

One of the best ways to encourage discussion online is to use social tools that have been specifically designed to enable conversation. Such tools include:

  • Blogs: These are a great way to talk about ideas and ask questions and allow the public to discuss issues in depth.
  • Consultation tools: Tools also exist to allow phrase-by-phrase comments on a consultation document. A good example of this is the Open Rights Group website Consult.
  • Wikis: For collaborative editing and writing, wikis are an excellent tool, although they require seeding with content and constant nurturing.

I have also been at a number of conferences where the views of online participants are fed into the proceedings, either live via a chat room, or in aggregate via a panel discussion where a facilitator relays the concerns and questions raised by the audience. Pros and cons:

  • Live chat: more exciting, vibrant, allows people to react in real time, but requires live streaming audio or video from the event.
  • Panel discussions: allows people to get involved prior to the event so is more inclusive, but can be slow and less exciting.

Promoting the conversation – how can people be brought on board?

One of the benefits of working online is that information about the consultation can spread through word of mouth very easily. This happens particularly when those organising the consultation make the best use of social media, such as video sharing sites, podcasts, video conversation sites such as Seesmic, and sites such as Twitter that support ambient communications. A cohesive approach to utilising social media is essential to engaging with broad sections of the online population. This will require active engagement from the members of the consultation group, and must be done sympathetically to the tools being used.

However, there are a significant number of problems to be surmounted if social media is to be used effectively. It will require:

  • significant commitment from the Summit organisers in terms of time and effort.
  • involvement of social media experts to provide a cohesive strategy.
  • resources for facilitators to help nurture the community.
  • social media training for facilitators and Summit organisers.

It will be important to identify and communicate with existing online communities which may have an interest in engaging with this consultation. This has to be done very carefully, in order that community members feel involved rather than harassed.

Whilst reaching out to existing communities is a good way of broadening input into the consultation, it is also easier said than done. Problems include:

  • identifying relevant communities.
  • engaging with these communities in an appropriate manner.
  • avoiding communications that could be seen as 'spam'.
  • keeping people engaged.

There is also the issue of timescale. It does take quite a long time to build interest and participation in any online project. Despite the speed with which we can publish information and can communicate across the country, encouraging participation is still a slow and labourious process. The Internet is not a silver bullet that will instantaneously create interest and participation. Rather, it is a tool to sit alongside traditional engagement activities.

Constructing a healthy, engaged discussion – how can we ensure it is balanced, representative and fair, yet lively and open to all?

 

The most important part of any online consultation is the selection of a number of facilitators who can nurture and steer the conversation in healthy and constructive directions. This will help to mitigate against highly vocal individuals dominating the conversation, just as a good facilitator does in a face-to-face brainstorming session.

Facilitators can:

  • set the tone of the discussion.
  • filter out abusive comments.
  • steer conversation.
  • spot trends.
  • highlight common concerns.
  • encourage participants to elaborate.

Thought needs to be given to how “trolls” - people whose aim is to disrupt conversation - will be dealt with, and where the lines are between a difficult and an abusive response. In any consultation process, great care needs to be taken to keep the conversation civil, but dealing too harshly with uncivil participants risks undermining the consultation with accusations of censorship. They will need to be very clear guidelines regarding what is acceptable, but they will also need to have as light a touch as possible.

It is also essential that any online presence be fully accessible to the vision and mobility impaired, so that disabled minorities can easily and fully take part in the online consultation programme.

It is often of concern to policymakers and politicians that the online community is unbalanced and represents only an elite minority. Studies from the USA show that this is not true, at least in the US. (A Pew Internet study about the make-up of the US internet is HERE and another two about bloggers are HERE and HERE).

Bloggers in the US, for example, are:

  • equally likely to be female as male.
  • racially diverse.
  • more involved in political activism of all descriptions.
  • more likely to take action as a result of something that they have read.
  • more interested in views which oppose their own.

Whilst it is hard to find research in the UK that mirrors this work, it is not unreasonable to assume that the online community is more balanced and more engaged than often portrayed.

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Comment and discussion on Networking Democracy is taking place on OurKingdom - click here to join in.

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