A clear head and some heavy thinking!
I'm in Denmark! I'm in the Danish lakes suffering from being healthy, walking miles and miles, eating excellent food, breathing fresh rose and pine scented air, and taking in spectaular views! And I am afraid it has got me thinking again. Here is what today has brought up, and I willmake no apology for it!
How important is eParticipation to eGovernment and eGovernance?
Wherever I go, whichever conference I attend, or meeting I chair, the conversation always turns at some point to eParticipation. It gets mentioned in between eGovernment and Social Inclusion somewhere, and it gets abused and misunderstood - almost as much as the word eGovernment does! Since 1986, in an article I read once, written by a graduate from an American University there has been a school of preference for the thought that eGovernment is a 'non' word. Government is: 'The act of governing; the exercise of authority; the administration of laws; control; direction; regulation; as, civil, church, or family government.' (Websters). So where does eGovernment fit in? Why have the 'e'? Do we offer pGovernment as the method of government using the post? Or tGovernment as the method of government using the telephone? So why eGovernment? Is the phrase just there to satisfy a need by someone somewhere to run more projects or define more strategies that do not get acted upon? Ah cynicism! Well eGovernment appears to be here to stay so in our definitions eGovernment is purported to be: 'ICT (Information Communication Technology) enabled Government'.
So following that practice if we look at the definition of Participation: 'The act or state of participating, or sharing in common with others; as, a participation in joy or sorrows.' (Websters), then it follows that eParticipation should be defined as ICT enabled participation - eSharing!
Now bearing this in mind I have to explore two things - one is the requirement for quality in that sharing experience, and the second is whether or not that adds value to the aims of eGovernment. Oh dear! that seems to raise yet another question - What exactly ARE the aims of eGovernment?
Lets look at the latter first! Aims of eGovernment seem to vary considerably, and people produce trite statements about efficiency and inclusion and the embracing of new technologies - the future for us all, and so on ad infinitum. But really we are talking about the act of governing aren't we? Going back to that original definition, we are talking about the administration of laws and the exercise of authority aren't we? Where does the form of government fit into that? How do we insert democracy for example? Well for me that is where participation comes in. We all seem to be striving for something that is actually quite easy to achieve but not necessarily wanted by all people. That is where the difficulties lie in my experience. An acceptance that eGovernment, eGovernance, eDemocracy, eParticipation are only a small thread in the rope of democratic government. Each offers an advantage to a portion of our inhabitants, each is useless on its own, but add them all together and we strengthen the rope. (No hanging puns intended there!)
So to go back to my questions - eGovernment Aims:
Are the same as government aims! All eGovernment should be offering is another route to the same end results we should already be achieving to greater or lesser extents, the provision of transparent, open, honest government - and in the case of democracy - in a participative manner - a shared government, of the people and by the people (didn't someone say that once a very long time ago?). And so there we have it really - Is eParticipation important to eGovernment and eGovernance? Well isn't it a bit like asking if lungs are important to breathing? I suspect if you want to add the word 'democratic' to the government bit that the answer has to be a resounding YES!
So, for me, it all really boils down to quality. eParticipation is the enablement of the experience of sharing in decisions, discussions, debates, and actions that fall under the banner of democracy and government. If you were to ask me if eParticipation is essential for eGovernment my answer would probably be no, if only for the fact that I am not sure that eGvoernment can be distinguished as a seperate activity to Government! But if you ask me if eParticipation is important to democratic government, (with or without the e - it makes no difference) then I would have to shout YES! But it's effectiveness will be wholey dependent on the experience. We will always need to consider how we enable inclusion - or remove exclusion - but trying to ensure everyone interacts via technology is not the answer. We need to be comfortable with diversity - celebrate it! We are ever changing, fickle, and emotional beings, somedays I will want to use a computer, some days I might prefer to shout at a person face to face, and some days I might prefer the anonimity of a letter in the local paper. That is my choice and my right. But what we must look at is the QUALITY of that experience, regardless of where I choose to make it. Those of us involved with eDemocracy and with eGovernment need to stop trying to include everyone, and start to develop some quality standards for those people who choose to use technology to interact with their governments. Have we got those yet? I think not. Are we looking for them? Do we know what they should be? Well I suspect there are many people out there who are looking. I know that the eGovernment group I chair for IANIS would love to have them. But at the moment I am not sure we know what we are looking for, or maybe we just haven't got to grips with exactly what we need to use eGovernment for, what it's aims really are. We are taking the route of looking at best practice from across Europe and beginning to build a framework from those as to what works and what doesn't work; why something works and why it doesn't; and from that we will begin to form a picture of what defines a quality experience in the field of democratic government. Then, once we have that picture, we should be able to begin to define some standards, and then and only then will we be truley able to say how important eParticipation is to eGovernment and eGovernance.
I'll keep working on it....... ;0)
How important is eParticipation to eGovernment and eGovernance?
Wherever I go, whichever conference I attend, or meeting I chair, the conversation always turns at some point to eParticipation. It gets mentioned in between eGovernment and Social Inclusion somewhere, and it gets abused and misunderstood - almost as much as the word eGovernment does! Since 1986, in an article I read once, written by a graduate from an American University there has been a school of preference for the thought that eGovernment is a 'non' word. Government is: 'The act of governing; the exercise of authority; the administration of laws; control; direction; regulation; as, civil, church, or family government.' (Websters). So where does eGovernment fit in? Why have the 'e'? Do we offer pGovernment as the method of government using the post? Or tGovernment as the method of government using the telephone? So why eGovernment? Is the phrase just there to satisfy a need by someone somewhere to run more projects or define more strategies that do not get acted upon? Ah cynicism! Well eGovernment appears to be here to stay so in our definitions eGovernment is purported to be: 'ICT (Information Communication Technology) enabled Government'.
So following that practice if we look at the definition of Participation: 'The act or state of participating, or sharing in common with others; as, a participation in joy or sorrows.' (Websters), then it follows that eParticipation should be defined as ICT enabled participation - eSharing!
Now bearing this in mind I have to explore two things - one is the requirement for quality in that sharing experience, and the second is whether or not that adds value to the aims of eGovernment. Oh dear! that seems to raise yet another question - What exactly ARE the aims of eGovernment?
Lets look at the latter first! Aims of eGovernment seem to vary considerably, and people produce trite statements about efficiency and inclusion and the embracing of new technologies - the future for us all, and so on ad infinitum. But really we are talking about the act of governing aren't we? Going back to that original definition, we are talking about the administration of laws and the exercise of authority aren't we? Where does the form of government fit into that? How do we insert democracy for example? Well for me that is where participation comes in. We all seem to be striving for something that is actually quite easy to achieve but not necessarily wanted by all people. That is where the difficulties lie in my experience. An acceptance that eGovernment, eGovernance, eDemocracy, eParticipation are only a small thread in the rope of democratic government. Each offers an advantage to a portion of our inhabitants, each is useless on its own, but add them all together and we strengthen the rope. (No hanging puns intended there!)
So to go back to my questions - eGovernment Aims:
Are the same as government aims! All eGovernment should be offering is another route to the same end results we should already be achieving to greater or lesser extents, the provision of transparent, open, honest government - and in the case of democracy - in a participative manner - a shared government, of the people and by the people (didn't someone say that once a very long time ago?). And so there we have it really - Is eParticipation important to eGovernment and eGovernance? Well isn't it a bit like asking if lungs are important to breathing? I suspect if you want to add the word 'democratic' to the government bit that the answer has to be a resounding YES!
So, for me, it all really boils down to quality. eParticipation is the enablement of the experience of sharing in decisions, discussions, debates, and actions that fall under the banner of democracy and government. If you were to ask me if eParticipation is essential for eGovernment my answer would probably be no, if only for the fact that I am not sure that eGvoernment can be distinguished as a seperate activity to Government! But if you ask me if eParticipation is important to democratic government, (with or without the e - it makes no difference) then I would have to shout YES! But it's effectiveness will be wholey dependent on the experience. We will always need to consider how we enable inclusion - or remove exclusion - but trying to ensure everyone interacts via technology is not the answer. We need to be comfortable with diversity - celebrate it! We are ever changing, fickle, and emotional beings, somedays I will want to use a computer, some days I might prefer to shout at a person face to face, and some days I might prefer the anonimity of a letter in the local paper. That is my choice and my right. But what we must look at is the QUALITY of that experience, regardless of where I choose to make it. Those of us involved with eDemocracy and with eGovernment need to stop trying to include everyone, and start to develop some quality standards for those people who choose to use technology to interact with their governments. Have we got those yet? I think not. Are we looking for them? Do we know what they should be? Well I suspect there are many people out there who are looking. I know that the eGovernment group I chair for IANIS would love to have them. But at the moment I am not sure we know what we are looking for, or maybe we just haven't got to grips with exactly what we need to use eGovernment for, what it's aims really are. We are taking the route of looking at best practice from across Europe and beginning to build a framework from those as to what works and what doesn't work; why something works and why it doesn't; and from that we will begin to form a picture of what defines a quality experience in the field of democratic government. Then, once we have that picture, we should be able to begin to define some standards, and then and only then will we be truley able to say how important eParticipation is to eGovernment and eGovernance.
I'll keep working on it....... ;0)
posted by Isobel @ Monday, July 10, 2006
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