Enhancing Civic E-Democracy for a Mature Society

1. What's missing for a mature civic e-democracy?Giuseppe ParuoloDeputy Mayor for Health and Communication - City of Bologna Chair of EUROCITIES Knowledge Society Forum – TelecitiesStrasbourg, April 23th, 2007

2. Summary / 1 E-democracy is an extraordinary opportunity to boost the level of participation of the citizens. The City of Bologna commitment is proved by years of experiments and best practices. And we are ready to move forward with new projects. EUROCITIES Knowledge Society Forum – TeleCities has it as one of the key issues. The Charter of eRights represents a common goal. And we are looking to joint actions to implement it. Still, something is missing…

3. Summary / 2 • What is missing? • In terms of: • Inclusion • Information • Participation • Politics • Technology can help, but not solve.

4. Bologna Bologna “DIGITAL CITY” Reengineering back office actions Relations with Citizens (eParticipation) information exchanges amongusers IPERBOLE communication eServices City of Bologna holisticweb platform created in 1995 transparency Interactive trials Create the electronic Citizenship space for all Making Citizens“NETIZENS”

5. Bologna • Citizens consultation on the Mandate Programme 2004-2009 • Other consultations: • - mobile and wireless aerials’ stations location plan • - pre-school rules • - immigration policies • - Municipal plan for energy • Public forum to redesign the City Masterplan (April 2005) Bologna, a City that changes - the participative urban planning to choose the future” • on-line studies • questionnaires • projects • maps • videos • on-line forum moderatedby experts and politicians Classical and multichannel participation: 150 citizens 260 associations 40 meetings 230 subscribers

6. Bologna Mutual learning and sharing of competencies, skill and experiences concerning both traditional and electronic decision making processes • Partecipa.net Emilia Romagna Region project www.partecipa.net • open source forum application based on Delphi method; • integrated system of CRM in order to deal with bi-directional communicative flows; • mediation/moderation handbook; • technical and managerial guidelines on eParticipation processes for PBs; • collaborative platform to share problems, solutions Q/As... eDemocracy kit • At present: public consultation about the future implementation of the public library “Your ideas for Sala Borsa”

7. Blogs Folksonomy RSS Feeds Wikis Web 2.0 Socialmapping Forums The future city portal • enhance participation and cooperation between Citizens and PBs • develop a virtual plaza, in which everybody can discuss relevant issues • make easier the customisation of services • exploit the joint intelligence (Wiki) • obtain feedback and content approval system to enhance user reliability

8. The future city portal Opportunity - Leverage the incredible potential of the social networking on the Internet to increase the capabilities of the City Portal Risk - Uncertain origin and compromised reliability of the information provided Solution - Publishing procedures and clear indicators on origin and reliability to avoid confusion page structure identifying user pages from official pages | system for content approval | user feedback | only administrators or users with non-negative feedbacks can approve content | value of reliability | international co-operation | credits architecture Example: additional languages

9. EUROCITIES KSF-TeleCities EUROCITIES is the network of major European cities,bringing together the local governments of morethan 130 large cities in over 30 European countries. EUROCITIESKnowledge Society Forum- TeleCities iscurrently focusing on ensuring the development of an inclusive Knowledge Society by making ICTs and online services accessible to all citizens, promotingthe modernisation of local public administrations through the use of ICT solutions, enhancing the rolecities play in the development of the Knowledge Society by promoting the uptake of ICT solutions and stimulating innovation, fostering the knowledge-based economy.

10. EUROCITIES KSF-TeleCities KSF-T has officially presented in July 2005 the EUROPEAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS OF CITIZENS IN THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY recognises the Rights to Access, to Education and Training to Online Information and Participation aims to be the European model from which local elected governments can draw up their own municipal Charter and determine their own ways of reaching a sustainable Knowledge Society in their local area. eRights Charter more than 30 Cities have already signed the Charter; 18 Cities have expressed their interest in signing up

11. EUROCITIES KSF-TeleCities • KSF-T has set up a Work Group on eRights to: • promote the European Charter of Rights of citizens in the Knowledge society • help Cities in implementing the Charter • offer the signatory Cities a platform to exchange good practices • develop instruments to monitor the progresses • keep the eRights Charter up to date • liaise with partners that are active in preventing the digital divide • organise Eurocities Digital Award based on eRights

12. EUROCITIES KSF-TeleCities During the next Summer Event (Bologna, 28-30 June 2007): Safe Technologies in Safe CitiesWireless NetworksAdvanced VideosurveillanceElectromagnetic PollutionNatural Language Based Inclusion

13. Inclusion • Digital divide is a recognised issue: • In terms of access (broadband and beyond) • In terms of learning/training • Internet not as the only mean • Was: traditional + Internet • Now: full range of possibilities • Technology may be of great help • Example: communicate with the elderly (Oldes)

14. Information • No real participation without proper information • Media bound to exploit their own market, useful but not committed to empower the citizen • Direct channels to communicate with the citizens • Possible (thanks to technology) • Recommended (possibly with a common vision) • Not enough (overload is always a risk) • Technology may help, but not too much: information is crucial for (e-)democracy, rules and effort needed. • Example: Iperbole 2.0 project (+ common efforts)

15. Participation • Different possible levels of participation • Feedback / suggestions on issues under discussion • Contribution to proposals under construction • Expression of consensus on proposals • Choice among different alternatives proposed • Possibility to submit and decide on proposals coming from the citizens • Participate not only in the decision making process but also in the realisation of decisions taken • Risk of underestimation of the real numbers to deal with • BUT MOSTLY: it’s a political issue

16. Politics 1. Caveat: technology is a tool, so a possible enabler of: • e-dictature • e-populism • e-wasteoftime • e-joke • … • e-democracy

17. Politics 2. Today (the risk is that it) is perceived as a political niche, a nice way to please citizens|netizens, with a bright future but today not really “dangerous” • Electoral web sites vs PB administrative sites • Similar in importance to the Youth Parliament or the Council of the Elders • Discussed mostly in technological conferences and meetings

18. Politics 3. If it were a “real” political issue… • We would be discussing about limitations of the use and rules to ensure a correct approach to e-democracy • Similarity with referendum (in Italian Constitution, in the City Regulations…) • Discussion in the main political arena and not only during technology conferences and among ICT experts • On the long run, e-democracy must lose the “e-”!

19. Contacts Contacts: GIUSEPPE PARUOLO Deputy Mayor for Health and Communication, City of Bologna +39 051 219 3099 giuseppe.paruolo@comune.bologna.it www.comune.bologna.it www.eurocities.eu

20. Thank you for your attention!