It
is essential to understand the technology involved to begin to see what can be
done with it. To deploy a large-scale on-line democratic environment we need:
·
Secure transactions
(communication) over a secure virtual network (the Public Key Infrastructure
-PKI)
·
Secure ‘Voting’
Software – client, server
·
A philosophy &
methodology of how content and user interact (eg to prevent leading questions)
·
Secure Analytical
& Management Software
·
A toolkit &
methodology for creating ‘Voting Instances’
With
these items in place, On-Line democracy is one of many services that could
flourish. For example PKI also forms the backbone of e-commerce and any other
type of on-line transaction involving confidential information.
In
the USA, all State public sector authorities will have to be fully PKI
compliant by the end of 2002.
PKI
is what the UK Government mean when they talk about Electronic Signatures –
they form an integral part of a PKI.
Back
to on-line democracy – what does it mean?
In
the context of BCC . . . a secure
electronic environment where a citizen expresses feelings and preferences to a
service provider and/or participates in the Political democratic process.
So,
our bullet point list:
·
Citizens Panels –
permanent panels covering key issues
·
Opinion Polls –
ongoing snapshots with a changing sample
·
Electoral Voting –
enabling every registered voter to participate on-line
·
Public Consultations
– Statutory or otherwise:
· Planning & Environmental – planning & appeals (e.g.
waste, housing, transport)
· Education – on-line schools allocation process, on-line PTA
forums, other issues of governance & policy in school management
· Social Services – service determination / prioritisation
· Budgets – approval of budget totals and percentages to be
allocated across the portfolio, approval of specific (controversial) items of
expenditure
· Cross-Cutting Services – forums for people to interact with
multi-agencies and voluntary sector who allocate & provide services for
them
· Housing – tenant involvement, estates management
·
On-Line Suggestion
Box – a virtual box for each department or provider where a citizen can pass
comment 24/7 (remember the citizen is certified via PKI – it can’t be abused)
·
Councillor’s On-Line
Surgeries – imagine how many more interactions (or virtual interactions;
Councillors too can have suggestion boxes) can be made if both parties do it at
their own convenience without leaving their room. If you’ll pardon the
expression.
There
are many applications within the gamut of On-Line Democracy. Given the
increasing statutory requirements placed on the public sector to consult their
citizens, the items in bold above would seem appropriate for the JVC to pursue
and implement for the Council. The unique combination of Public Sector expertise
and private sector technologies is the ideal place to develop what are
cutting-edge solutions to the eternal public sector problem.
You
can’t please all of the people all of the time, but you can let all of the
people give their opinion all of the time