A Successful E-democracy Policy
A successful E-democracy policy should embrace the following principles: Create new public spaces for political interaction and deliberation. There is a shortage of such space in the offline environment; online offers significant advantages for the cultivation of effective public discussion and deliberation areas. Provide for a multi-directional, interactive communications flow, designed to connect citizens, representatives and the executive with one another. It is important to differentiate between the layers of C2R (parliamentary, devolved assembly, regional or local assembly, community, European); the various, not always connected aspects of C2G; and the democratic necessity of enabling C2C. Integrate e-democratic processes within broader constitutional structures and developments. Ensure that interaction between citizens, their elected representatives and government is meaningful. If public input is being invited into the policy or legislative process, ensure that it is effectively facilitated and summarised and that response mechanisms exist so that representatives and government can listen and learn. Ensure that there is a sufficiency of high-quality online information so that citizens can consider policy options on the basis of trusted knowledge, as well as their own subjective experiences. Such information needs to be accessible, intelligible and not overwhelming. If the public voice is to be heard more clearly and more often, this must involve efforts to recruit the widest range of public voices to the democratic conversation, including those who are traditionally marginalised, disadvantaged or unheard. Reflect the realities of geography and social structure within online environments, with a view to providing equal access to the democratic process for all areas and all communities.
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