Public Budget Dialogue

An Innovative Approach to E-Participation

Stefanie Roeder

Fraunhofer AIS, Knowledge & Communication

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Public budget – what‘s that?

The public budget process was developed to deal with the problems of minimal financial resources in large cities

The process originates in Porto Allegre (Brazil), where the citizens have been consulted on a regular basis

It led to significant improvements of the quality of life in Porto Allegre

There are initiatives in Europe (France, Spain) a network of interested municipalities in Germany with a pilot study in North-Rhine-Westfalia

The interest in the public budget process is continously growing in German municipalities

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Why public budget processes?

A process to engage citizens in the budgeting plan of the municipality

A possibility to show the citizens the current financial situation of the municipality

A chance to involve the knowledge of the citizens in the process of budget consideration

A new format of political dialog and municipal communication culture between politics, administration and citizens

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The case ‚public budget dialogue in Esslingen‘

The project is doubly innovative:

- The public budget process itself is a new concept in Germany

- the process was mostly internet-based

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A model for successful eParticipation projects

eM

odera

tion

soft

ware

external relevance

pro

cess

pla

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eParticipation

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Process design

A three week analysis phase for the process design

Analysis of the initial situation in Esslingen regarding the municipal budget

Identification of scope and suitable topics

Evaluation of stakeholers interests and their opinion about the internet-based process

Risks and benefits identification

Interviews and questionnaires for stakeholders, representatives of the municipality and other relevant concerned parties

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Risks Benefits

Politicians: topic ‚budget‘ too complex

Misuse of political influence and lobbyism

Municipal council: loss of decision power

Politicians: The mayor supported the project

Citizens: Higher transparency of decisions

Experts: Generating new ideas

Proposals on how to balance budget deficits

Initiate a learning process about municipal structures for all participating parties

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Process plan - Phases

Blended process, with face-to-face and internet-based elements

Four Phases:

1. Analysis and concept

2. 1st online phase (mostly information related) and evaluation

3. Preparation of the 2nd online phase

4. 2nd online phase (mostly development of ideas and proposals) and final evaluation

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Process plan - Steps

Kick-off meeting Info-meeting

ModeratedOnline forum

Moderatedonline forum (only read access)

QuestionnaireFace-to-face

Internet-based

Questionnaire Final meeting

(only read access)

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eM

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tion

soft

ware

external relevance

pro

cess

pla

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eParticipation

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eModeration

The moderation by a neutral third party enabled the trust of the participants

Active moderation style to shape the communication process

One moderator with editorial function:

- forward technical questions to the relevant municipal offices

- Retrieve and edit the responses into a user-friendly form

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Tutoring and online moderation training

Mentors were assigned to so-called ‚citizen PCs‘ to help them with the online forum

(Citizen PCs are computers for citizens, available in schools, libraries, banks and on municipal events – they were installed during the Media@Komm project)

Workshop on online-moderation:

- to assign the workshop participants as co-moderators

- to build up moderation capabilities in Esslingen

12 participants did get actively involved in the moderation of the second online phase

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eM

odera

tion

soft

ware

external relevance

pro

cess

pla

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eParticipation

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The Dito discourse system

Dito OnlineChat

DiscourseAwareness

EmailIn/Out

•visual•synchronous•distributed orsame place

•text-based•synchron

•open •text-based•asynchronous

•open

•asynchron•structured•text-based

•Observation & Analysis

E-ParticipationPlattform

IntegratedModules

•asynchronous•synchronous

Module Fucntionality

Dito OnlinePolling

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Screenshot discussion forum

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Screenshot new Dito interface

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eM

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tion

soft

ware

external relevance

pro

cess

pla

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eParticipation

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External relevance

A political relevance of the project could barely be established, although the mayor campaigned for it

Integration into the administrative process did not occur, because of the concerns of the municipal council (to be confronted with impossible requests, and to lose power over financial decisions)

Scheduling the procedure according to the policy cycle did not improve the involvement of the political groups

Citizens initiatives are supporting the idea of similar processes in the future

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Embedding the process

Relatively high internal relevance but rather low external relevance

The successful elements of the process would have had more impact with a higher external relevance

Introducing external relevance in participation projects …

… is a long-term goal depending on the planning and participation culture

… may lead to changes in the communication processes between politicians, administration and citizens

… thereby lead to sustainable decision making processes

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eM

odera

tion

soft

ware

external relevance

pro

cess

pla

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eParticipation

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Contents and outcome

1st online phase (4 weeks)

Main forum: basic parameters of the municipal budget; financial situation in Esslingen; traffic expenses

Subforums: renovation of schools; major investment projects; saving measures

Outcome: 20 proposals, ranging from initiating a list of people for voluntary community services, to switching off traffic lights to save energy at night

2nd online phase (2 weeks, designed to deepen the discussion on specific topics)

Forum: Saving measure categrories and ideas, for example energy, services, fees, and alternative sources of revenue

Outcome: 27 ideas, ranging from ‚citizen loans‘ to increasing parking fees

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Statistics

150 registered participants

260 contributions

Several hundred readers

45 ideas and proposals

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Lessons learned

The Citizens were positively convinced about the usefulness of the public budget dialogue

Positive impact on participation culture in Esslingen

The administration was open for the innovative approach

The politicians (except the mayor) were reluctant, which had impact on the relevance and the motivation

Future processes should only be realized after a consensual decision from politics, administration and citizens initiatives to consider the discussion results in the policy cycle

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Research aspects

Experience-based discourse ontology

Adapted during the dialog

For moderators and participants

Illocutionary patterns (label-patterns)

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Ontology based in-process awareness

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Week 1-4 = 1st online-phase / Week 5-6 = 2nd online-phase

Comment Answer Qestion Idea Information Proposal

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0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Week 1-4 = 1st online-phase / Week 5-6 = 2nd online-phase

Comment Answer QuestionIdea Information Proposal

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Ontology based post-process evaluation

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Thank you for your attention!

Contact:

stefanie.roeder@ais.fraunhofer.de

www.ais.fraunhofer.de/wk

In today‘s poster session:

The project „Forum Cologne City Rings“