The role technology and the Web 2.0 will play in the future of government, governance and democracy

Ask anyone in the crowd: “Do you like to communicate and deal with your government?” The likeliest answer would be: “No, no and no!” Historically, constituents have been looked upon the government as a bureaucratic monster sitting on top of the hill and observing the public humming at the hill’s foot. Albeit, ultimately those constituents elect (essentially, hire) a Chef d’Etat.

The question is whether technological achievements, generally, and the Internet and Web 2.0, particularly, might be employed for turning ordinary citizens into the government’s peers and even more – partners. There is a number of reasons to give a positive answer to this question.

The truly revolutionary mission of Web 2.0 in taking democracy to the next level may be substantiated by the following circumstances:

a) the Internet is becoming ubiquitous throughout the globe;

b) the Internet has a unique capability to bring millions and millions of people, located thousands of kilometers away, to a small virtual floor where they can, in real time, share information and videos (Amazon, YouTube), peer (Facebook) and finally - collaborate (Wikipedia);

c) the virtual Internet space continuously verges towards the real world: today people are living, physically and mentally, in the space of the Internet buying goods and services, communicating, socializing, enjoying music and videos, working, and eventually - collaborating.

It is reasonable to presume that government should be interested in exploiting Web 2.0 since it may allow comprehending better the mood on the street, immediately gauging constituents’ reactions to the government’s actions and ultimately, getting the public involved in government affairs. However, the government/public interrelation is a very sensitive and delicate matter which has to be thoroughly considered and cautiously tested before being utilized within the day-to-day practice.

There are four major roles that Web 2.0 may play to make governance and government more efficient and democratic:

- information sharing – circulating information amid constituents in order to make them aware of government decisions and actions as well as underlying fundamentals;

- mining data and learning – in-depth studying of the public opinion and mood on the street based on both polls and generalization of constituents’ thoughts represented in blogs and correspondences;

- communicating – ensuring a direct correspondence between representatives of government institutions and various communities or individuals in order to jointly find solutions to specific problems;

- collaborating – providing a platform for mass contribution to and collaboration in the process of generating government decisions or decrees of a high social significance.

From the public perspective Web 2.0 may contribute to higher transparency and openness of the government at all levels and, if needed, provide direct and promptest access to responsible bureaucrats.

The crucially important (and, incidentally, most difficult) task is a making the public an integral part of the governance process by providing a universal platform for mass collaboration. Through such collective ideation and brainstorming the public will be able to have an influence on government. In essence, it would be the genuine revolutionary modification of democracy, which hasn’t undergone any significant transformations over a very long historical period of time.

Today’s folks like co-operate, co-create, co-participate; they like “co-…”, i.e. being active instead of being passive; being creators instead of being contemplators; being team players instead of being lone players. By designing and implementing Web 2.0 applications, government may harness that inherent nature of its constituents to achieve a synergetic effect that is contrary to laws of mathematics is able to produce the following outcomes: 1+1 is greater than 2 while 1+1+1 is greater than 6, etc. Wikipedia is a real and unambiguous proof of that assertion. Another example vividly described by Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams in their book “Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything”, is the history of Goldcorp, which was able to overcome failure and achieve tremendous results through mass collaboration and mobilization of collective intelligence. Or a phenomenon of prosumers depicted in the same book, when virtually ordinary consumers collectively generate innovative product ideas.

There are four major aspects that should be elaborated while applying modern technologies and specifically Web 2.0 to the government/public interrelation:

- political

- social

- organizational

- technological.

Each of these components, as part of the whole processes aimed at the incorporation of Web 2.0 and other technological achievements into a grid of public/government relationships, will require outstanding efforts and consistency - primarily from government organizations that have to initiate this gigantic project.

Oleg Amurjuev, Ph.D.

February 2, 2008