Public Sphere Model: Local issues must be next

Senator Kate Lundy's innovative approach to citizen engagement using social networking tools and new media is proving very successful in enabling citizens to have a voice in policy development. So far, the model has focused on giving citizens a voice in Government 2.0.

The obvious next step is to see the model used to engage with citizens on local issues. I have been arguing for some time that we need a balance between centralisation and decentralisation.

To borrow Roger Clarke's concept (from Public Sphere #1), centralisation leads to systemic failure, whereas decentralisation leads to sporadic failure. It would seem a balance between the two is appropriate for a connected world.

The trouble I see at this point is that Australia's approach is highly centralised, and we are lacking in capabilities (infrastructure and culture) to engage in a decentralised environment.

That is not to say that centralisation is all bad. The idea of 'centrality' (as opposed to 'centralisation'), particularly leadership from federal politicians (such as Senator Lundy), is crucial to enabling local communities to take advantage of the benefits of new media (leading to decentralisation).

As I argued in my presentation at Public Sphere #2 (see video below), we need to develop decentralised research and learning facilities at the local level to overcome the problems of our deep-seated tradition of central control.

Feedback from some of the 'tweeters' at Public Sphere #2 suggested that my idea of 'centres' for social innovation went against my approach of avoiding 'centralisation' (and I agree).

After discussions today with an emerging community of online collaborators at the University of Canberra, I mentioned this feedback and we came up with the label 'Social Innovation Exchanges'. Stay tuned for some online initiatives in this regard soon.

So where to next? I think the Public Sphere model of short presentations - video recorded, live blogged, tweeted and then followed up with blog comments and a briefing paper (with wikis to be added soon) - would work well for citizen engagement on local issues.

For example, activities such as the recent consultation on the future of the Scullin shops would have been a great issue to experiment with the Public Sphere model on a local problem.

Starting off with a fairly innocuous issue is important to get the model right for local communities, as it would enable interested parties to present their views - even if they could not attend a particular public meeting - about the issue for public review without being too controversial.

There are many opportunities and challenges ahead in the digital future. What we do now in the quasi-digital present will be an important step in the evolution of new media models for citizen engagement.

I have conceptualised where we are at now using the 'forming, storming, norming, performing' process (outlined in much of the project management literature) in the presentation below.

Keep your ears to the ground about current developments at the University of Canberra. We have a proud and strong community which lends itself to an actively engaged and online 'Community 2.0'. But more on this in a future post!

Public Sphere: Government 2.0 - Michael De Percy from Kate Lundy on Vimeo.

Wikis to broaden policy debate | Australian IT

I didn't think this would happen for some time. But here it is: Public Sphere made it to the news:

Mr Tanner told the second Public Sphere event in Canberra that Web 2.0 tools such as blogs and wikis had allowed citizens to "bring their knowledge, perspectives and resources inside the tent" of government.

Politicians and bureaucrats will have to overcome the old and reflexive mistrust over the release of information, and learn to accept that citizens will assemble and combine it in new ways, he said. We also have to accept that when we open ourselves to public discussion through chatrooms, blogs and online forums, we won't always like what we hear.

The link to the original article is here: Wikis to broaden policy debate Australian IT

Some related sites or those mentioning 'public sphere':

• Minister Tanner's Speech
• Gov 2.0 Taskforce
• Kate Lundy (includes a list of other blogs mentioning Public Sphere)
  
• Open Australia
• Open Forum
• TweetMP
• Technology & Business on 'Public Sphere'
• CASE Blog
• TechWorld
• Creative Commons Australia
• Computerworld
• Liveblog from Public Sphere #2
  

Government 2.0 Taskforce launched today

I participated in today's Public Sphere #2: Government 2.0 event in Parliament House, Canberra, where Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner and Special Minister of State and Cabinet Secretary Joe Ludwig announced the launch of the Government 2.0 Taskforce. The Taskforce has a website using open source architecture with a Creative Commons 2.0 licence.

(photo courtesy of Stephen Collins)

The Taskforce is a great initiative and has a public competition running until 3 July to design the banner for the website. It appears that the Taskforce will advise the government on the use of Web 2.0 technologies and will also provide funding to assist innovative uses of new technologies for citizen engagement and open access to government information:

The Project Fund is a $2.45 million fund available to the Taskforce to support the development of Web 2.0 tools and applications that either enable engagement between government and the community or support the innovative use of government information.

Members of the Taskforce, chaired by Dr Nicholas Gruen, include:

• Ms Ann Steward (Deputy Chair)
• Mr Glenn Archer
• Mr Sebastian Chan
• Mr Adrian Cunningham
• Prof Brian Fitzgerald
• Ms Mia Garlick
• Mr Peter Harper
• Ms Lisa Harvey
• Mr Martin Hoffman
• Ms Pip Marlow
• Mr Alan Noble
• Dr Ian Reinecke
• Mr David Solomon
• Mr Martin Stewart-Weeks

The Project Fund is being provided through a partnership with Microsoft, with Cisco providing some of the 'telepresence' infrastructure for the group. Funding will be provided on a competitive basis:

[T]he Taskforce will run competitions that will invite interested individuals and groups to submit ideas and Web 2.0 designs to the Taskforce for consideration and potential prizes and other benefits such as funding for pilots.

It would seem that Gov 2.0 has commenced in Australia.