This is brilliant, I'll share it with all my might. Do you think we could get it up as a UK geolocated Centralnotice?
*Edward Saperia* Chief Coordinator Wikimania London <http://www.wikimanialondon.org> email <e...@wikimanialondon.org> • facebook<http://www.facebook.com/edsaperia> • twitter <http://www.twitter.com/edsaperia> • 07796955572 133-135 Bethnal Green Road, E2 7DG On 29 May 2014 15:06, Stevie Benton <stevie.ben...@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote: > Hello everyone, > > tl:dr -* Wikimedia UK <https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Main_Page> and Demos > <http://www.demos.co.uk/> are encouraging Wikimedians to participate in an > attempt to crowdsource a submission to a call for evidence on digital > democracy from the Speaker of the House of Commons. You can find the > consultation page here > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Connecting_knowledge_to_power:_the_future_of_digital_democracy_in_the_UK> > and > we look forward to hearing from you.* > > The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, has established a Commission > on Digital > Democracy<http://www.parliament.uk/business/commons/the-speaker/speakers-commission-on-digital-democracy/>. > It will report to Parliament in early 2015 with recommendations on how > Parliament can use technology to better represent and engage with the > electorate, make laws and hold the powerful to account. As part of their > work, the Commission have issued a series of calls for evidence. These are > open invitations for members of the public, either as individuals or > groups, to submit responses to a series of questions. They have attracted > responses from unions, academics, non-governmental institutions and private > individuals. The first theme was ‘making laws in a digital age’, and the > second on ‘digital scrutiny’. The Commission plans to shortly publish the > final three themes. > > There is a growing sense that the growth of the Internet has not paid the > democratic dividends that it could. Turnout in formal political elections > is steadily decreasing, and trust and support in the institutions and > offices of mainstream political life are low and falling. Despite many > innovative attempts from both within and outside of Government, the daily > reality of democratic engagement for most people in the UK would be > familiar to generations of British citizens who predate Facebook or email. > The rise of the Internet has, broadly, done little to challenge > concentrations of power or structures of unequal representation > > Demos <http://www.demos.co.uk/> is one of Britain’s leading cross-party > think tank and it has an overarching mission to bring politics closer to > people. They contacted Wikimedia UK to propose an experiment: can an online > community be used to source a response to this call? Can the ethos, > community and technology like that of Wikipedia be used to engage > Wikipedians to come together and collaborate to create a reply? In > particular, Carl Miller, Research Director of the Demos Centre for the > Analysis of Social Media, wrote this piece for > Wired<http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-05/22/digital-democracy> in > which he describes Wikipedia as a masterclass in digital democracy. > > This conversation has led to what is an experimental attempt to do just > that. In theory there are many lessons that any attempt to increase > engagement with digital democracy can learn from Wikimedia projects, > especially Wikipedia. These include the participatory nature of content > development and the nature of content (and policy) being arrived at by > consensus. Wikipedians are from a wide array of backgrounds and represent a > broad spectrum of views. This could lend itself to effective drafting of > the kind of evidence that the Speaker is looking for. Wikimedia UK and > Demos would like to establish whether this is indeed the case. In > particular, we are seeking answers to the following questions: > > - > > How can technology help Parliament and other agencies to scrutinise > the work of government? > - > > How can technology help citizens scrutinise the Government and the > work of Parliament? > - > > What kinds of data should Parliament and Government release to the > public to make itself more open to outside scrutiny? > > Everyone is encouraged to try to answer these questions collaboratively, > in much the same way Wikipedia articles are approached - using the space > below for content and talk page for discussion. Stevie Benton from > Wikimedia UK <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Stevie_Benton_(WMUK)> and > Carl Miller from Demos will happily answer any questions on the talk page > but are equally happy to let the process take its course. > > At this point there is no fixed deadline for evidence on the theme of > digital scrutiny. However, the Speaker’s Commission will be publishing > publishing a single call for evidence covering our last three themes (yet > to be announced). The conversation and crowdsourced evidence will be > reviewed at the end of June with a view to either continuing the process or > submitting as is. If there is appetite among the community, and if the > first attempt is successful, there may be further attempts to develop > submissions to the later three themes. > > At the end of the process Demos and Wikimedia UK will prepare a report on > the process and the effectiveness of this kind of approach to crowdsourcing > policy and evidence. This paper will be released under an open licence. It > is a real opportunity for Wikimedians to influence the debate about digital > democracy and both Wikimedia UK and Demos thank you for engaging with this > idea. > > You can find the consultation page > here<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Connecting_knowledge_to_power:_the_future_of_digital_democracy_in_the_UK> > and > we look forward to hearing from you. > Thanks and regards, > > Stevie > > -- > > Stevie Benton > Head of External Relations > Wikimedia UK+44 (0) 20 7065 0993 / +44 (0) 7803 505 173 > @StevieBenton > > > Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and > Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered > Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. > United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia > movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who > operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects). > > *Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over > Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.* > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org > http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk >
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