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Not just a weblog anymore! - SLC ------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: "Dan Jellinek" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: VoxPolitics Bulletin - November 2002 Date sent: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 12:17:40 -0000 * VOXPOLITICS BULLETIN. The Email Newsletter on e-Democracy and Wired Politics, UK and Worldwide. * ISSUE 8, NOVEMBER 2002. Please forward this free service to colleagues so they can subscribe by sending a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - full details at the end. We never pass on email addresses. For further information see: http://www.voxpolitics.com NOTE: As a navigation aid to visually impaired people and others using screen readers, all headings begin with an asterisk and end with a full stop. [Issue starts.] * CONTENTS: IN THIS ISSUE. US e-vote soars - new technology for mid-term elections. Pilot sacrificed to Brussels election - uncertain future for UK e-voting trials. Help for the young - e-minister launches youth portal. E-voice of people 'roars' - largest ever online petition. News in brief: Learning process; Election fatigue; Armenian forum; Social research. Section two: Opinion - Political Parties. Removing the electoral blinkers: Political parties have traditionally been quick to use new technologies as election campaign tools. But they have to look beyond elections to enrich all democratic processes, say Grant Kippen and Gordon Jenkins. [Contents ends.] * SECTION ONE: NEWS. * US E-VOTE SOARS. More than 200 counties across California, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi and Texas tried new e-voting machines in the US mid- term state and Congressional elections on 5 November, bringing the total number using the new technology to 510, or 16 per cent of the nation's counties. Electronic polling proceeded in most places without significant problems, even in Georgia, which deployed 22,000 touch screens, and Florida, focus of several fierce election controversies in the recent past. The only problems reported were in two counties in Texas and one in New Jersey, where ageing technology was blamed. According to a report from PoliticsOnline (http://www.politicsonline.com/), some 70 per cent of major candidates for seats in Congress had web sites this year, compared with less than 60 per cent in 2000. Online fundraising on campaign sites more than doubled from under 25 per cent in 2000 to over 55 per cent this year, with a similar increase in the total amount of money raised. And for the first time this year, a small number of candidates in state elections used online adverts. However candidates took little account of disabled voters when designing their web sites according to research from politicalweb (http://politicalweb.info). Just over 1 per cent of candidate sites were approved by 'Bobby' (http://www.cast.org/bobby), the standard software used to check support for access devices used by people with visual, aural, or mobility disabilities. * PILOT SACRIFICED TO BRUSSELS ELECTION. A government move to scrap e-voting pilots in the 2004 local elections so it can hold European elections on the same day, to boost voter turnout, could end up having the opposite effect, according to one analyst. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) unveiled plans last week to hold local elections for the European Parliament on the same day in May 2004 as the UK council elections. This is almost certain to scupper e-voting trials because laws permitting e-voting for local elections do not extend to national polls, and would need substantial changes to do so. The department is now consulting on the proposals, and requests feedback from local authorities by January (http://www.odpm.gov.uk/news/0210/0104.htm). The ODPM claims the move is justified because it will increase voter turnout (http://fastlink.headstar.com/odpm). But according to one e- democracy analyst, running two elections on the same day is less likely to have this effect than an e-voting pilot. The analyst, a senior academic who asked to remain anonymous, said the confusion was also an example of potential problems that were predicted by officials at the former Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions when it was dissolved and responsibilities for e-voting were divided between other agencies. "The e-Envoy's Office was given e-voting to look after, and ODPM took the role of liaising with local authorities, but the Lord Chancellor's department takes the policy decisions," he said. E-voting pilots will still go ahead next year (see http://www.local- regions.odpm.gov.uk/elections/eoi), and councils would also have the chance to propose limited pilot schemes in 2004, for example if they are holding a by-election on a different day than the European Parliamentary election, the ODPM says. * HELP FOR THE YOUNG. Young people can find about how the government works and access information on lifestyle, health and education issues at 'youngGov' (http://younggov.ukonline.gov.uk), a new section of the UK Online public services web portal. The service, which was developed in consultation with 700 young people, aims to provide 11 to 18 year-olds with a quick guide to government and information on how laws are developed. "The Government is determined to get young people involved in the democratic process at an early stage. This introduces young people to the way government works while at the same time providing helpful information, designed around the way they live now," said 'e- transformation minister' Douglas Alexander. The site also provides information on bullying, the environment, volunteering and the dangers of under-age drinking. Visitors can find information on charities, youth groups, links to other government websites, and practical advice on topics like planning a gap year, healthy eating and keeping safe on the web. * E-VOICE OF PEOPLE 'ROARS'. The UK's largest ever electronic petition has been delivered to the Prime Minister's office, supporting the right of terminally ill adults to choose to receive medical assistance to die. The petition was signed by 11,664 households at the 'Justice4Diane' web site (http://www.justice4diane.org.uk) set up by supporters of Diane Pretty, a British woman suffering from motor neurone disease who died in May. Pretty had tried unsuccessfully to overturn the law against assisted suicide. Of the six electronic petitions previously accepted by Downing Street since April 2001, the highest had recorded 6,633 signatures (see http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/page598.asp). "Perhaps for the first time, the 'e-voice' of the British public has roared," a supporter of the Pretty campaign said. "The true test is if Parliament and the government listens. If they fail to act now and seriously address this issue, then this e-democratic tool will become worthless." In an official response however, the government said that, having reconsidered all the arguments, it does not consider the law should be changed. NEWS IN BRIEF: * LEARNING PROCESS: A new video guide to democracy for young people, 'Let's Do Democracy,' has been created by the Scottish Parliament for circulation to every school in Scotland: http://fastlink.headstar.com/scot2 * ELECTION FATIGUE: Most political sites in North America are little more than digitised electoral brochures, according to analysis by the online e-politics centre 'Hillwatch.' They fail to engage viewers, and consequently are not that helpful to the politicians themselves, it says: http://www.hillwatch.com/subbulletinhome.htm * ARMENIAN FORUM: An online forum to promote e-democracy has been launched by Armenia's National Academy of Sciences. The forum, supported by the United Nations Development Programme, aims to broaden public awareness about democratic issues and establish new opportunities for interaction: http://www.forum.am * SOCIAL RESEARCH: Social scientists from several US universities running an online survey examining the development of campaign web sites. US-based political webmasters are invited to complete the form by the end of November at: http://faculty.washington.edu/pnhoward/surveyd.html [Section one ends.] * SECTION TWO: OPINION - POLITICAL PARTIES. * REMOVING THE ELECTORAL BLINKERS. by Grant Kippen [EMAIL PROTECTED] and Gordon Jenkins Political parties have traditionally been aggressive users of new technologies. With the emergence of television in the 1950s as a mass communications medium, parties have increasingly relied on technological tools and sophisticated advertising techniques to reach and influence voters as well as raise money during electoral campaigns. However, this trend does not appear as yet to be extending to the internet. Jonah Seiger, co-founder and chief strategist for Mindshare Internet Campaigns (http://www.mindshare.net), says that part of the current resistance towards the greater use of the internet in political campaigns is the fact that most professional campaign consultants, who are the decision-makers in terms of campaign expenditures, are of the old school and so tend to favour traditional approaches. One of the key challenges faced by political parties in adopting e- democracy is the way in which they incorporate new approaches with more traditional methods. The Canadian Alliance Party, for example, is using the internet in a variety of ways to support the more traditional processes. For example, people can join the party or make a donation over the internet but you can also accomplish the same tasks by walking into a party office or using the telephone. The party recognises that a digital divide exists within the membership, and that they need to offer choice. That said, political parties should be thinking bigger. Some politicians and political parties have already begun to do so but parties need to have internal discussion and experiment before any substantial progress is likely to be made. Mark Walsh, chief technology advisor for the Democratic National Committee, believes that there is no natural migration path of political parties towards of e-democracy as there has been for the corporate sector towards e-business. One of the main problems is that the demand for openness, accountability and transparency that drives e-business works against the processes that run political parties. There are too many groups with self-interests that dominate political parties who see no reason to change, even though e-democracy might potentially benefit the party as well as society at large. If e-democracy forces political parties to become more open, accessible and transparent, then it is bound to have an impact on party structures and processes such as policy development, organization, fundraising, membership and so on. Even with strong political leadership and commitment, to undertake large scale change is likely to take years to achieve, given the consultation and input that will be required once party members become engaged. In other words, there don't currently appear to be any strong incentives for political parties to move beyond the focus on using the internet at election. So how should political parties respond to the challenges and opportunities offered by e-democracy? The following is one suggestion on how political parties could be encouraged to become more aggressive in their e-democracy efforts. Currently, parties are only rewarded for winning elections, which poses a problem from a citizen engagement perspective, as there is no incentive for them to engage in e-democracy activities on a broader scale. If political parties were rewarded financially for undertaking broader citizen engagement activities then some positive changes might be possible. There is a precedent: political parties in Germany have received government funding for undertaking education and citizen engagement activities. There is still time to create a more dynamic and citizen-centred political engagement process, but those responsible for the stewardship of political parties have to realise that change is required and take the necessary steps to do something about it. NOTE: Article by Grant Kippen, principal at the Hillbrooke Group, and Gordon Jenkins, principal at Jenkins & Associates. The piece is based on a paper presented to the 'Prospects for electronic democracy' conference at Carnegie Mellon University in September: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-08/cmu-fe081602.php [Section two ends.] * HOW TO RECEIVE VOXPOLITICS BULLETIN. To subscribe to this free monthly bulletin, e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please encourage others to subscribe! To unsubscribe at any time, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please send comments on coverage or leads to Derek Parkinson at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] VoxPolitics Bulletin is published by Headstar http://www.headstar.com Copyright 2002 Headstar Ltd The Bulletin may be reproduced once in full as long as all parts including this copyright notice are included. Regular (i.e. monthly) reproduction online is not permitted without our permission. Individual stories may also be quoted for single use as long as they are clearly sourced and our web site address (http://www.voxpolitics.com) is also cited. * PERSONNEL: Editor - Derek Parkinson [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reporters/advisers Phil Cain [EMAIL PROTECTED] James Crabtree [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mel Poluck [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dan Jellinek [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tom Steinberg [EMAIL PROTECTED] [Issue ends]. ------- End of forwarded message ------- ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. Clift - W: http://www.publicus.net Minneapolis - - - E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minnesota - - - - - T: +1.612.822.8667 USA - - - - - - - ICQ: 13789183 *** Past Messages, Discussion http://e-democracy.org/do *** *** To subscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** Message body: SUB DO-WIRE *** *** To UNSUBSCRIBE instead, write: UNSUB DO-WIRE *** *** Please forward this post to others and encourage *** *** them to subscribe to the free DO-WIRE service. *** *** Please send submissions to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
