Benefits & Drawbacks
From:
Tim Erickson
Date:
2005 Dec 01 19:13 UTC
Short link
At 6:29 PM +0000 12/1/05, David R. Newman wrote:
> > I'd just like to repeat the fact, that Issues Forums are not the same as
>> consultations. The connection between the forum and any particular
>> policy decision is less direct, which removes some of the incentive for
> > "astro-turfing."
>
>Well, could a lobby group keep raising an issue until it gets taken up
>by a council?
Yes, of course. An Issues Forum can be used by a lobby group to
directly impact an Issue, this happens all the time. We've seen
issues raised in Issues Forums, go on to influence media coverage in
the local paper, get items on the council agenda, or spark a public
reaction from the head of city department.
BUT, an Issues Forum differs from a consultation in that the citizens
set the agenda. Any citizen or citizens group can raise an Issue and
use the Issues Forum as a tool to influence government on that Issue.
This happens frequently in our forums.
However, this if very different than the government saying "we're
going to spend 1,000,000 GBP on a development project and we're
taking citizen input for the next two weeks."
Another point, is that a simple "letter writing" campaign in an
Issues Forum is theoretically possible. However, the effect is very
different than letters to a newspaper. In an Issues Forum, someone
who shows up and suddenly posts a note on a NEW issue, is very likely
to be questioned by other participants. They might also get a private
note from a council member asking for more information. Either way,
the information that they have posted will be subject to interactive
public scrutiny, before its likely to have an impact. We see this all
the time in our forums.
An Issues Forum can be used by grassroots groups to lobby government,
but for an "astroturf" effort to be successful in St. Paul, the
organizers would have to be able to bluff all 350 participants
(ranging greatly in political background and ideology). The openness
of the forum makes it possible for any one or two people to
completely discredit any effort that is insincere or based upon false
pretenses.
This combination of interactivity and "public scrutiny" makes it VERY
hard (but not impossible) for one person or one organization to
somehow artificially "create" a fake grassroots movement.
I hope that this helps.
Tim Erickson
E-Democracy.Org
.