How E-Government is Changing Society and Strengthening Democracy

How E-Government is Changing Societyand Strengthening Democracy

www.gsa.gov/intergovnewsletter

USA Services Intergovernmental Newsletter

GSA Office of Citizen Services and Communications

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Issue 20 • Fall 2007

TheUSA Services Intergovernmental Newsletter is produced twice a year by the USA ServicesIntergovernmental Solutions Division, GSA Office of Citizens Services and Communications; LisaNelson, Editor. Send comments and suggestions to: lisa.nelson@gsa.gov.

Lead Article

New Opportunities for Involving Citizensinthe Democratic Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Building Trust in Government

E-Democracy in Minnesota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4MAPLight.org:Shining a Light on Money and Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Building Trust in Government in BrazilThrough Electronic Voting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Stimulating Citizen Engagement in Government:Hampton, Virginia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9Online Citizen Participation Service in Korea . . . . . . .11

EngagingCitizens

EPA: Engaging Citizens Through E-Government . . . .13Gainesville Police Department EngagesCitizens and Enhances Public Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14OpenHouse Project: Helping Congress DefineTransparency Reforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16So You Want to Podcast? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17Technology Matching Fund: Helping Seattle’sResidents Help Themselves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19Generational E-Democracy in Maine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20Australia’s Principles forICT-enabled Citizen Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

PublicComment

E-Petitions and Two-way Communicationswith the British Prime Minister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24Citizen Communities Compel Changefor E-Grant Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25The Great Lakes Water Quality Web Dialogue . . . . . . .27Engaging Your Public in Today’s World . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29ThinkIt’s Easy to Balance the State Budget?ClickHere........................................31E-Democracy in Action:Locally Driven Conservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

Using Social Media

Federal Blogging Is Poised to Take Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34Uploading Democracy:Candidates Field YouTube Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35CDC inSecondLife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37Government Information OutreachinSocial Media and Virtual Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38Government Participation in Social Networks:Joining the Conversation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Getting to Mature E-Democracy

Click-Through Democracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42Ten Practical Online Stepsfor Government Support of Democracy . . . . . . . . . . . . .44E-Authentication: Safeguarding Citizen Identity . . . .46

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nformation and communication technology (ICT) has become apowerful tool for transforming the way governments interact withcitizens. The Internet presents amazing new possibilities beyond theestablished model of democratic government. In that pre-Web world,government disseminated information and citizens could only expresstheirviews through the postal service, by town hall meeting, or in pre-scheduled elections. This time-consuming, iterative process, whilecritical to the exercise of democracy, didn’t feel very participatory.In the21stcentury, as the true potential of the Internet is just starting tobe tapped, we’re seeing its impact on democratic processes in new andexciting ways. The Internet is providing opportunities for voting online;spreading awareness of lesser-known candidates for public office;permitting citizens to easily petition the government on importantissues; helping police fight crime; allowing the public to weigh in onstate budget priorities and government regulatory proposals; andmaking Congress and congressional campaigns more transparent.Online activism, like Moveon.org, can have a direct impact on thepolitical process; videos deliver questions directly from citizens totelevised presidential campaign debates; Brazil introduces electronicvoting; and Minnesota allows citizens to participate in legislativedebates in real-time. Governments now are beginning to post blogs anddeliver crucial information in virtual space such as Second Life; nationalleaders can engage in two-way communications with online petitioners;and national conversations take place with point-counterpoint videos onYouTube.Recognizing the sophistication of the public and the ways people nowmaketheir presence known online, government entities haveincreasingly begun to harness the potential of the Internet to meet their

New Opportunities forInvolving Citizens in theDemocratic Process

By Darlene MeskellDirector, USA Services Intergovernmental SolutionsGSA Office of Citizen Services and CommunicationsU.S. General Services Administration

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constituents online, because that’swhere people are making their voicesheard and where decisions are beingmade. Electronic government providescitizens with quicker and easieraccess to information and servicesand facilitates decision-making thatpermits broad grass-rootsengagement with the democraticprocess. Citizen input is not just amatter of convenience any more; it’sbecome an essential for howdemocracies work.In recent years, there has been muchdiscussion about the public’s lack oftrust in government. Much of thisdistrust is attributed to a lack ofknowledge and understanding of theinner workings of government, both inthe legislative and civil servicearenas. Failure to provide instant,accurate, copious governmentinformation on demand and notengaging citizens in the developmentofpublicpolicy feeds a growingcynicism and destroys trust.Thisnewsletter explores some of themany ways technology is makinggovernment processes moreaccessible and expanding citizenparticipation in public policydecision-making. It documents thefirst steps in what is certain tobecome a wave of remarkabletechnological applications that willcontinuously change the way citizensand the governments that representthem interact. The articles describemany of the ways electronicgovernment is:

•

Building Trust in Government

•

Engaging Citizens

•

Facilitating Public Comment

•

Using Social Media, and

•

Getting to Mature E-Democracy.

Building Trust in Government

Interactive Web-based programs andelectronic tools dramatically increasethe opportunities for citizens toactively participate in theirgovernment. E-Government systemsoffer maximum transparency andenable participants to watch theplayers in the executive, legislativeand judicial branches of governmentand to see the impact of their owninteractivity.

E-Democracy inMinnesota

allows residents to watchlegislative debate on television or theWeb, read proposed amendmentsonline, and send comments directly totheir lawmakers as the debateunfolds.

MAPLight.org

is

Shining aLight on Money and Politics

bycorrelating campaign contributionswith how legislators vote, therebyproviding a window into theconnections between money andpolitics.

Building Trust inGovernment in Brazil throughElectronic Voting

describes theevolution of 100% electronic voting inthe Republic of Brazil, where voting iscompulsory.

Stimulating Citizen Engagementin Government

in

Hampton,Virginia

ispartofthecity’s strategyto enable and stimulate citizeninvolvement in the process ofcommunity governance.

OnlineCitizen Participation Service inKorea

isone of that country’s effortsto enhance the transparency andcredibility of public administrationthrough citizen participation.

EngagingCitizens

E-Government allows citizens a levelofengagement—without leaving theirhomes—never before made possible.For the Environmental ProtectionAgency,

Engaging CitizensThrough E-Government

is nearand dear to its mission, which callsfor citizen participation in decisionsabout clean air, water, and the overallenvironmental quality of theirneighborhoods. The

GainesvillePolice Department EngagesCitizens and Enhances PublicSafety

by involving citizens inhelping to make their communitiessafer places in which to live.

The Open House Project HelpsCongress Define Transparency Reforms

by offering recommenda-tions to Congress on ways to moreeffectively use technology to furthertransparency in its operations. TheCourt Services and OffenderSupervision Agency redesigned itswebsite to provide visitors with auser-friendly experience while tellingthe agency’s stories directly to thepublic.

So you Want to Podcast

,the author asks, proudly offeringsuggestions based on his agency’sexperience. The city of Seattle ishelping to close the digital divide andencourage a technology-healthy citywith a

Technology Matching Fund

that

Helps Seattle’s ResidentsHelp Themselves

.The State ofMaine’s innovative Internet practicesare creating

Generational E-Democracy in Maine

,bringingpeople closer to their government andenhancing democracy. Recognizingthe need for a standardized approachto this new medium, the AustralianGovernment’s

Principles for ICT-enabled Citizen Engagement

provide guidelines for agencieswanting to enhance citizenparticipation in government throughthe use ICT.

Public Comment

Governments are collecting and usingpublic opinion to improve the waysthey deliver services to citizens. Forexample,intheUnited Kingdom, thereisalong tradition of citizenspresenting petitions at the door ofNumber 10 Downing Street, the homeofthe Prime Minister. Now, the doorofNumber 10 Downing Street is avirtual one, as current technologyupdates this practice with

E-Petitions and Two-Way Communications with the PrimeMinister

.Sometimes, citizenconcerns are sought to help thegovernment improve its processes,when, for instance,

CitizenCommunities Compel Change for E-Grant Process

.In the case of e-grants, citizen groups offering theiropinions improved the initial, basicprocesses set out in the U.S.government’s Grants.gov initiative.Well-designed structures andprocesses can enable government

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officials and citizens to hold well-informed and productive discussionsonline, as in.

The Great LakesWater Quality Web Dialogue

.

Engaging Your Public in Today’sWorld

demonstrates how differentlevels of government are usingsoftware to engage citizens andbenefit from their collective ideas.If you

Think It’s Easy to Balance aState Budget, Click Here

when anon-partisan California group takesits Internet tool to schools and civicgroups to allow Californians to telltheir legislators what they want inpolicies, programs, and budgetpriorities. Budget trade-offs that wereonce handled in back-rooms of thestate Capitol are now out in the openfor everyone to view, and citizens canjuggle the priorities themselves andsee how their decisions compare tothe Legislature’s. At the heart of

E-Democracy in Action: Locally-Driven Conservation

is“greenprinting,” a process used bythe Trust for Public Land that usesGeographic Information System(GIS) models to map a community’spriorities for its natural resources.Greenprinting can help galvanizepublic support for a particular use andencourage partners to work towardcommonconservation goals to guidegrowth management efforts.

Using Social Media

Government is on the edge of radicalchange in the way it communicateswith its constituents. Increasedinteractivity is important forpromoting not only onlineengagement of citizens and publicservants, but also offline engagement.The IBM Center for the Business ofGovernment finds

Federal BloggingIs Poised to Take Off

,anddiscusses this new technology as away to foster improvedcommunications in the public sector,both with citizens and internallywithin organizations. The U.S.Centers for Disease Control andPrevention (CDC) is taking advantageof as many technologies and media asfeasible to get its health messagesout to as many people as possible. Itspresence on the 3-dimensional multi-user virtual environment “SecondLife” is one component of CDC’scomprehensive effort.

CDC inSecond Life

has a first-hand look atthe evolution of a new form of blendedsocial and educational networking totake the message to the audience.One of the most intriguing trends forgovernment informationdissemination is

GovernmentInformation Outreach in SocialMedia and Virtual Worlds

.TheNational Library of Medicine iscollaborating with others in thegovernment health community to findmore effective mechanism to deliverhealth information in an emergency.The Library of Congress issponsoring

GovernmentParticipation in Social Networks,Joining the Conversation

usingblogs and other social media toeducate online communities andenhance citizen discovery of thecontent of their online collections.Millions of viewers experienced

Uploading Democracy

watching

Candidates Field YouTubeQuestions

in a televised presidentialdebate in the United States on July23, 2007. Viewer-created videos, laterposted to YouTube, allowed ordinarycitizens to pose questions directly tothe candidates in real time. Theground-breaking format gave voice toordinary citizens not normally able toparticipate in such a forum. The 37video questions, selected fromthousands submitted in advance,drove the debate and showed thecandidates and the nation a new formof participatory democracy.

Getting to Mature E-Democracy

Click-Through Democracy

posesquestions about the positives andnegatives of public comment throughmass e-mail campaigns that allowthousands of individuals to sendduplicate e-mails by simply clicking a“take action” button. There is a needfor simple guidelines for separatingthoughtful comments from electronicform letters. Steven Clift, Chair of E-Democracy.org, who believes thatgovernment should be leading thecharge into an increasingly andfundamentally interactive society,offers

Ten Practical Online Stepsfor Government Support of Democracy

.And lest we forget,online interaction between citizensand government will be unworkableunless the process and technologysafeguards are in place to ensure thatthe information exchanged withindividuals is protected. Teams are inplace through the federal governmentto create and institutionalize thesystems that will safeguard individualprivacy and system security. One ofthese,the cross-agency e-governmentinitiative

E-Authentication

,is

Safeguarding Citizen Identity

.The E-Authentication IdentityFederation creates an environment inwhich federal agencies can rely onelectronic identity credentials issuedandmanaged by other public andprivate organizations toverify/validate the identity ofindividuals accessing their onlineapplications.These articles document the manyways government—and citizens—areusing new technologies to interact,communicate and strengthendemocratic institutions.

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Darlene Meskell is Director of USAServices Intergovernmental Solutions.For additional information contactlisa.nelson@gsa.gov.